[ad_1]
MANILA, Philippines – The office of Vice President Leni Robredo is getting the smallest slice of the budget pie in the bureaucracy despite receiving the highest audit rating from the Audit Commission.
Robredo presented on Monday to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) the proposed budget of P679 million for next year, less than his current allocation of P708 million after it was cut by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
“We will make do with whatever is given to us,” Robredo told the House appropriations committee. His office originally sought P724 million in funding, including the purchase of six new vehicles, which was rejected by DBM.
But Robredo’s supporters in the chamber called for an increase in his budget from 10 percent to double or triple the OVP allocation.
Camarines Sur representative Gabriel Bordado Jr. said it was a shame that OVP had the “lowest budget allocation in the entire Philippine bureaucracy.”
“He has been participating in front-line activities and empowerment of people, but still, his budget is the smallest in the entire bureaucracy,” he said.
During Monday’s budget hearing, Robredo, a former congresswoman from Camarines Sur, personally appealed to lawmakers to at least meet her proposed P724 million budget, a slight increase from her 2020 P708 million budget, after the DBM recommend only P679 million for the next fiscal year.
The OVP’s proposed budget is expected to go toward pandemic relief and response efforts, as well as education and livelihood programs for underserved communities.
“Basically, your honors, from our transportation services, our dormitories, our community outreach, all the other things we’ve been doing, that’s made possible through collaboration with primarily private partners. So we are confident, honors, that with our proposed budget next year, we can further expand work with our partners to contribute to our common goal of defeating the virus and improving the lives of our people, ”he said.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives lawmakers pointed to OVP’s efforts through its Angat Buhay program, as well as its comprehensive response to the pandemic, and sought to negotiate a higher budget for their office to sustain these projects.
The representative of the city of Cagayán de Oro, Rufus Rodríguez, urged his colleagues to increase the OVP budget by P113 million.
“Giving these P113 million will go a long way toward providing funding to OVP to implement its regular programs and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
But Baguio City Representative Mark Go went one step further and said the budget should be doubled, or at least raised to P1 billion. ACT Teachers representative France Castro said she would support moves to “double or triple” OVP’s budget.
Read next
Disclaimer: Comments uploaded to this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of the management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we consider incompatible with our editorial standards.
[ad_2]
