OVP gets P889M after bicam approval

The bicameral conference committee late Tuesday night approved the 2026 proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) at P889.2 million. 

The amount was the same as proposed under the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

The House version earlier reduced the OVP budget to P733 million.

The reduction was due to Vice President Sara Duterte's refusal to defend her office's budget during deliberations.

Duterte refused to answer questions about her office’s use of some P625 million in confidential funds = from 2022 and 2023.

She said this was a subject of the pending impeachment case against her and would compromise national security. —LDF, GMA Integrated News