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September 26, 2024, 12:45 amThe House of Representatives moved to rationalize the budget of the Office of the Vice President — retaining the P733 million budget recommendation from the Committee on Appropriations from the original P2.1 billion proposal.
“There are some members of Congress who have proposed to further reduce the budget of the Office of the Vice President, and others have proposed to reduce the office’s funds to zero because of her non-appearance. But I rejected these suggestions. I understand the frustrations, but I believe that it is still important for the Office of the Vice President to have a sufficient budget to continue serving our countrymen,” he said.
The House appropriations committee previously approved the P733-million allocation, which closely mirrors the budget allocated to former Vice President Leni Robredo. The budget includes P30 million to account for inflation. “Inquiries should not be adversarial nor prosecutorial and should recognize the right of persons to refuse to participate in the crafting of laws,” Duterte said.
Five officials from the OVP also skipped Wednesday’s congressional inquiry, prompting Chua’s committee to issue a show-cause order demanding their explanation. “I must stress at this point that the sheer vastness of these potentially misused funds sets this matter apart from other instances of irregularity and disallowance – these amounts easily surpass the threshold for the crime of plunder under our laws,” Chua said.
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