Senate panel approves OVP's ₱902-M budget

In less than an hour, a Senate finance subcommittee panel swiftly approved on Monday, Sept. 29, the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) proposed budget for 2026, amounting to P902.895 million, for plenary consideration.

- DHEL NAZARIO

This was after Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri cited parliamentary courtesy.

“When the OVP and the President visit, we give them parliamentary courtesy and usually their budgets, and in this case the budget of the Vice President is already a lean and mean budget,” Zubiri said.

The situation was different from the scenario last year, wherein Vice President Sara Duterte had a heated exchange with Senator Risa Hontiveros over the distribution of “Isang Kaibigan” books, a children’s book authored by Duterte that was allotted P10 million.