MANILA – The Senate Committee on Finance will retain the P1.3 billion cut made by the House of Representatives on the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget for next year.
According to Senate panel chair Sen. Grace Poe, they will maintain the P733 billion OVP budget after the office of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio did not respond to her several clarifications.
“We reached out several times to the Office of the Vice President requesting them to submit documents to clarify issues regarding their budget but they have not submitted as of today,” Poe said.
“So, we decided to retain the GAB amount pending submission and review of these documents,” she added.
House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations has recommended cut down the OVP budget for next year to P733.19 million from the original proposal of P2.037 billion.
The P1.3 billion budget cut would be slashed from supplies (P200 million), personnel services of consultants (P92.4 million), financial assistance (P947.4 million), rent/lease expenses (P48 million), and utility expenses (P5 million).
The slashed amounts, on the other hand, are recommended to be allocated to DOH’s Medical Assistance Program (P646.5 million) and DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (P646.5 million)./PN
