No confidential funds allocated for OVP in proposed 2027 budget

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has no confidential funds allocated in its proposed 2027 budget, House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairperson Representative Jose Alvarez confirmed Wednesday.

Alvarez noted that the OVP did not request confidential funds for the upcoming fiscal year.

“Wala. Nothing, nothing,” Alvarez said in an ambush interview. “So it is up to the President if he will give confidential funds to the Office of the Vice President. That is his discretion.”

The allocation of secret funds has been a central issue in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, specifically concerning her use of confidential funds under the OVP in 2022 and 2023, as well as during her tenure as Department of Education secretary.

The Commission on Audit (COA) previously issued notices of disallowance covering the OVP’s confidential fund spending for those two years. The agency has not received confidential funds since.

Debate Over Parliamentary Courtesy

The OVP’s proposed allocation sparked debate during the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberations when BH Party-list Representative Robert Nazal initially moved to grant the office parliamentary courtesy.

The traditional courtesy allows the budgets of co-equal branches and high-ranking offices to pass without interpellation. The committee had granted the same privilege to the Office of the President the day prior.

"Yesterday, this committee extended to the Office of the President a long-standing courtesy, passing its budget without interpellation in recognition of its standing as a co-equal branch of government," Nazal said. "Today, I respectfully ask the same courtesy for the Office of the Vice President."

Nazal cited the ongoing legal battles facing the Vice President as justification for his motion.

"The Vice President is currently facing the weight of an impeachment proceeding, a burden already heavy enough on its own," Nazal added. "Her budget, moreover, has not grown. It remains modest and unremarkable."

However, several lawmakers opposed the motion, including House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio.

Following a query from Alvarez, Nazal agreed to temporarily withdraw his motion after OVP Chief of Staff Zuleika Lopez expressed willingness to answer lawmakers' questions, opening the office’s proposed budget to formal committee scrutiny. -Paraluman News