MANILA – The Office of the Vice President (OVP) does not have a budget allocated for its medical and burial assistance programs under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
In a statement sent to Panay News, the office of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio said the development has forced them to discontinue their assistance programs this year.
“Since there’s no line item under 2025 General Appropriations Act for Financial Assistance / Subsidy, the Office of the Vice President has no fund to implement the medical and burial assistance program,” the OVP said.
The OVP also issued an apology “for the inconvenience” of those who will not benefit from the program.
According to the OVP, from January to December 2024, the program had provided over P822 million worth of financial assistance to a total of 187,028 beneficiaries.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on December 30, 2024 signed into law the P6.326-trillion national budget for fiscal year 2025, where he directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of line items that are not consistent with his administration’s priorities.
Under the 2025 GAA, the office of Duterte-Carpio was allocated a P733.1-million budget, a big cut from the originally proposed P2-billion budget.
Duterte-Carpio earlier said that some projects of the OVP, specifically the free bus rides and financial assistance provided in its satellite offices, may be affected with the proposed cuts in the OVP’s 2025 budget.
She also said that OVP’s satellite offices would continue to function until December 31, 2024, but stressed that she was unsure how the operations will change come 2025. Around 200 OVP personnel could also lose their jobs./PN
