Several minority lawmakers are now eyeing cuts to the budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) following its repeated absence from House plenary budget debates.
Reports said Vice President Sara Duterte and OVP representatives failed to appear for deliberations three times — on Tuesday (September 30), Wednesday (October 1), and Thursday (October 2, 2025).
In a letter sent to the House appropriations panel on September 30, the OVP laid down two conditions before attending the plenary:
- That the House of Representatives demand the attendance of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the ₱27.3 billion budget deliberations of the Office of the President;
- That the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability present before the plenary a Department of Justice (DOJ) document confirming the lifting of the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) on seven OVP personnel.
Among those covered by the ILBO are Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio, Directors Rosalynne Sanchez, Sunshine Fajarda, and Edward Fajarda, Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta, and Chief Accountant Julieta Villadelrey — all of whom were previously subpoenaed by Congress in connection with its probe into the alleged misuse of OVP confidential funds.
This prompted lawmakers, including Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, to propose slashing the OVP’s budget.
“To manifest my extreme displeasure about the behavior of our Vice President, and in due time, I will move for the decrease in the budget of the [OVP],” De Lima declared.
She added: “I’m just now thinking of moving for the decrease, let’s say, for the retention of the MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) and personnel services budget and get rid of the operational budget of the [OVP].”
For his part, Tinio said: “I will move to reduce the budget of the [OVP] for 2026… I will move that it be cut only to the PS (Personnel Services) component. Ibig sabihin yung pang-sweldo lang po sa personnel. Bakit po? Dahil obligado po, habang nanantili silang empleyado ng gobyerno. At isaalang-alang din po natin na ang mga kawani ng [OVP] ay damay lang po.”