Hontiveros expects Sara Duterte to attend OVP budget deliberation

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Senate Committee on Finance Vice Chairperson Senator Risa Hontiveros is expecting Vice President Sara Duterte to attend the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget deliberations similar to what other agency heads do, as a demonstration of proper conduct.

“I expect her to appear. Binanggit ‘yun explicitly ni [Senate President] Sherwin [Gatchalian] nung committee hearing na ineexpect talaga namin na bawat committee hearing hanggang sa plenary nandun ‘yung head of agency at hindi lamang kay VP Duterte lamang sinabi yun,” Hontiveros told Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday.

(I expect her to appear. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian explicitly mentioned during the committee hearing that we expect every agency head to attend the budget hearings, from the committee level up to the plenary, and this not only applies to the Vice President alone.

"[Kung hindi na naman dumating], I’m sure papansinin namin ‘yan kasi hindi ‘yan proper conduct. Sa kahit sino mang head of agency kahit pa o lalo na Vice President,” she added.

(If she fails to attend again, I’m sure we will take notice because that is not proper conduct for any agency head, especially the Vice President.)

In October, a Senate finance subcommittee panel quickly approved the proposed P785.2 million OVP budget for fiscal year 2027, terminating the briefing after 16 minutes.

Duterte was not present during the budget briefing, but the OVP was represented by its chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, and other officials.

The OVP said the P785.204 million budget aims to support the agency’s continued delivery of assistance and services to beneficiaries nationwide.

The 2027 budget recommendation includes P220.232 million for Personnel Services (PS), P561.651 million for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), and P3.321 million for Capital Outlay.

Meanwhile, P15.544 million is automatically appropriated for the Retirement and Life Insurance Premium (RLIP) of OVP plantilla personnel. —RF, GMA News