THE Senate on Thursday passed – in over 30 minutes – the P2.3 billion 2023 national budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio defended her office’s budget before the Senate Committee on Finance, led by Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd asked Duterte-Carpio about the necessity of her office to ask P500 million in confidential funds “in one year.”
Before she could answer, Angara said, “Just to state for the record, just to place things in perspective it has received confidential or intelligence funds for 13 years from year 2000 to 2012.”
Duterte-Carpio said, “There were once intelligence and confidential funds that were granted to the Office of the Vice President.”
“And to the amount and the propriety of the confidential funds, as we have manifested in the House of Representatives, we leave it to the honorable members of the Senate to decide on this matter,” she said.
“OVP is in good hands,” Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. said in supporting the committee deliberation of the budget of the OVP.
The senator said “VP Inday Sara’s leadership is a testament of excellent governance.”
“Her long remarkable experience as local chief executive of Davao City is a comforting assurance that she will be able to empower the office more to provide policies and programs that will ultimately uplift the lives of all Filipinos,” he said.
Revilla also praised the efforts of the OVP to bring service closer to the people by establishing satellite offices all over the Philippines.
Currently, there are already OVP offices in Dagupan, Cebu, Surigao, Zamboanga, Bacolod, Tacloban and Davao.