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Bicam restores OVP budget to P889M
The Freeman
|December 19, 2025
The bicameral conference committee restored the Office of the Vice President’s proposed P889 million budget for 2026, reversing a House-approved cut imposed after Vice President Sara Duterte declined to personally defend her office’s spending during plenary deliberations.
The amount approved by the bicam panel late Tuesday, December 17, matches the figure in the National Expenditure Program for 2026 and scraps the P733 million version passed earlier by the House of Representatives.
The House cut of about P156 million was explicitly linked to Duterte’s repeated refusal to face lawmakers during budget deliberations, which supporters—including opposition figure Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal party-list) said was meant to enforce accountability rather than cripple the office.
Dit verhaal komt uit de December 19, 2025-editie van The Freeman.
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