Senate panel clears OVP budget in under 20 minutes as Duterte skips hearing

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate finance committee endorsed on Tuesday, October 20, the proposed P785.2-million budget of the Office of the Vice President for 2027 after a hearing that ran less than 20 minutes, with Vice President Sara Duterte absent.

Senate finance panel chair Sen. JV Ejercito declared the budget submitted for plenary consideration after Sen. Imee Marcos moved for its endorsement and Sen. Bong Go seconded. No senator objected.  

Before suspending the session, Ejercito apologized that it had not been a shorter hearing. "Gusto ko sana, fifteen minutes eh. Kaso tumagal lang konti. So pasensya na po," he quipped. (I wanted it to be 15 minutes, but it took a little longer. So my apologies.)

The Senate committee's swift endorsement of the OVP's spending plan comes after the House of Representatives in September had also quickly dispensed and approved the OVP's proposed budget without debate.  

For 2027, the OVP stands to get P785.2 million. This is P104 million, or 11.7%, lower than its P889.2-million budget for this year. It is also only slightly higher than the record-low 2025 budget of P733.198 million.

Of the total, P561.7 million is allotted to maintenance and other operating expenses, including P193.1 million for goods and livelihood grants and other aid.  

Duterte's office contains no confidential funds in its proposed budget for a third straight year.

Congress has long extended "parliamentary courtesy" to the offices of the president and the vice president, typically clearing their budgets at committee level with few or no questions. 

The same Senate committee approved the Office of the President's P10.15-billion budget in roughly the same amount of time on September 30, with Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian moving for approval before Executive Secretary Ralph Recto had presented it. 

But the courtesy has not always held for the OVP. In 2024, the House cut the office's proposed P2.037-billion budget for 2025 to P733 million after Duterte declined to directly answer questions on her use of confidential funds. Senators in turn kept the same amount for the OVP and reasoned that the office failed to submit documents the finance panel requested.  

On Tuesday, Gatchalian asked where the vice president was. "Traditionally, when budget deliberations are held, the head of office comes here to defend their budget," he said, noting that Duterte had attended last year.

OVP chief-of-staff Zuleika Lopez said Duterte was in Davao City representing her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, at the inurnment of a former city government official.

Gatchalian said he hoped the vice president would defend the budget in person at the plenary stage.

The Senate president also said the lower budget showed the OVP was spending "as efficiently, as wisely as possible."  

No senator asked about the OVP's spending record or how its aid funds would be distributed. Gatchalian said in August that issues before the impeachment court could not be raised in the OVP's budget deliberations, as they form part of the case.