The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Tuesday endorsed the Office of the Vice-President's (OVP) proposed P785.20-million budget for 2027, an allocation 11.67% lower than its P899.23-million budget for the current year.

Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, approved the proposed budget after Senator Maria Imelda R. Marcos moved for its endorsement and Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go seconded the motion. No senator objected.

Lawmakers extended parliamentary courtesy to the OVP, confining their questions to the office's decision to seek a smaller allocation for 2027. The practice, a long-standing convention in congressional budget hearings, leaves deeper line-item scrutiny to the floor deliberations that follow, where amendments to an agency's proposed spending can still be raised.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Mr. Ejercito described the OVP's move to scale down its budget as a "big thing," citing the government's limited fiscal space. In the annual appropriations cycle, agencies ordinarily seek larger budgets to cover expanding programs, making a voluntary reduction relative to the prior year a notable development.

Zuleika T. Lopez, the OVP's chief of staff, said the reduced allocation reflected a recalibration of the office's programs. "This year, we're concentrating on monitoring and evaluation and checking if [our outreach programs] actually have made an impact," she said.

OVP Director for Operations Norman B. Baloro told the panel that the office's flagship PagbaBAGo: A Million Learners and Trees Campaign was expected to reach its target of 1 million student beneficiaries nearly two years ahead of its 2028 deadline. Ms. Lopez added that the OVP's Libreng Sakay free-ride program was on track to serve its 4 millionth passenger within the next two weeks.

Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian said the reduced request showed the OVP was spending "as efficiently and as wisely as possible."

Mr. Gatchalian, however, asked why Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was absent from the hearing, noting that she had attended the OVP's budget proceedings the previous year. "Traditionally, when budget deliberations are held, the head of office comes here to defend their budget," he said.

Ms. Lopez responded that Ms. Duterte was representing former President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the inurnment of a long-serving city planner in Davao City.

Ms. Marcos urged her colleagues to extend the same parliamentary courtesy to Executive officials, including the President and the Vice-President, as they do to officials appearing before the House of Representatives.

Mr. Gatchalian said he hoped Ms. Duterte would attend the plenary session to defend the OVP's proposed budget. The subcommittee endorsement is only the first step in the legislature's budget process: the measure must still clear plenary debates in the Senate, be reconciled with the House of Representatives' version, and receive the President's signature before it takes effect as the 2027 General Appropriations Act.

reporters pressed Ms. Lopez for further details on the Vice-President's whereabouts and the proposed budget after the hearing, she declined to elaborate, saying only that the country's second-highest official was "very well."

Source: BusinessWorld