Senate hearing on Office of the Vice President's proposed 2027 budget — October 20, 2026

[19:54] ask the committee secretary to acknowledge the resource persons present for the day mr chair [20:00] good morning good morning also to our senate president and senator marcos for the briefing [20:04] on the proposed fyi 2027 budget of the office of the vice president would like to acknowledge [20:09] our resource persons from the ovt we have attorney zuleika lopez assistant secretary [20:14] lemuel ortonio attorney rosaline sanchez attorney sunshine chari paharda director norman baloro [20:21] attorney emily rose corinthira attorney kelvin jerome tenito miss julieta villeda rey mr amard [20:29] ehe and mr simon jeserlao we have also invited representatives from the bbm and koa from bbm [20:36] we have assistant director lulu bismo miss laurian javier mr george catalan mr edward j perales and [20:42] miss queen valerie macaspa for koa we have mr had bin abdul malik tumawis and miss dara jing tegalan [20:49] thank you mr chair thank you our committee secretary ladies gentlemen honorable colleagues [20:54] in the senate guests and resource persons to the office of the vice president a pleasant morning to [21:00] everyone as we open today's budget hearing of the proposed 2027 budget of the obb we recognize the [21:06] vital role of the office of the vice president as a platform for public service through social [21:12] economic and support programs being the second highest executive office of the philippine government [21:18] shall maintain outstanding delivery of its local programs dignified international networks and [21:23] resilient sustainable solutions to the countrywide challenges for this budget deliberation we endeavor [21:30] to efficiently utilize the allotted fiscal resources to meet short and long-term projections strengthen [21:37] national readiness and enhance responsiveness to the needs of the filipino people moving forward [21:45] this representation acknowledges the tradition of inter-parliamentary courtesy in respect to the [21:51] office of the vice president while also assuring the public that the fiscal year 2027 proposed [21:58] expenditure is taken up with you deal this thank you very much so i'd like that before uh before [22:05] we proceed i would like to ask our senate president if he has any remarks thank you mr chairman uh mr chairman [22:13] uh uh binabasa ko itong uh budget ng uh ovp and uh nakita ko na compared to last year's uh went down by 11 [22:23] percent um it went down by approximately from 889 million to 785 million and uh nakita ko rin na ang kanilang uh [22:38] uh uh main program uh main program ay yung social social social economic program na tumutulong sa ating mga [22:49] constituents and i saw various uh components of that program so with that uh nakita ko na uh the uh office of the [22:59] price vice president is uh spending their budget as efficient as wisely as possible uh bilang vice president [23:14] uh meron rin silang mga uh uh kailangan tulungan uh bilang tayo mga politicians marami talagang lumalapit [23:21] sa amin uh i'm sure kasi yung ating mga constituents so i only have one question uh attorney uh traditionally [23:31] kasi magandang mga budget uh the uh the head of office uh comes here to defend their budget alam mo naman yan [23:41] uh you've been here for the last uh four years uh and um uh traditionally uh even last year when [23:49] i was the chairman of the finance committee uh the uh vice president took time to come here to [23:55] defend their budget so may know for the record kung nasaan ng ating buting vice president [24:02] thank you your honor good morning ladies and gentlemen the vice president is actually [24:06] representing uh uh fp uh former president uh rodrigo roa duterte in the environment of uh [24:15] our long serving uh city planner in davos city so the in the schedule for the environment is today [24:22] october 20 so she's the representative of the former um is that in the country or outside of the [24:31] country just in the country just in the country well we hope that uh the plenary we would uh um welcome [24:39] her presence uh to further uh defend her budget this is the first step alam mo naman yan my second step [24:51] pataya which is plenary and we would hope that uh she can give time to uh represent her office and defend [24:59] their budget in in plenary but at this time uh during the uh committee level i'll leave it to our [25:06] chairman who is uh the one spearheading the budget of the entire bureaucracy so i'll leave the the the [25:14] the shepherding to him uh on the uh on the budget of the obc with that mr chairman marami thank you our [25:25] senate president likewise the chair like how much the presence of a center bongo at this point i'd like to [25:30] to open the floor to our colleagues if there are any questions for the ovv yes center marcos yes uh [25:37] chairman thank you very much and uh welcome to the office of vice president to the halls of the senate [25:44] uh gusto ko lang sumali dun sa sinabi ng ating uh mahal na chairman si jv na i-extend na lang yung [25:55] traditional courtesy natin sa ating mga executive officers as well as we do to uh the uh [26:02] other house the house of representatives at uh kahit uh kahit wala rito ang pangulo kahit wala [26:08] yung pang pangalawang pangulo eh talaga namang uh hinahayaan dikit sa lahat nabawasan pa yung budget [26:14] ninyo nang higit sa 11 percent kaya uh ang tangy tanong ko na lamang is um maliban dun sa sinasabing mga [26:23] uh uh uh social economic programs ano ba talaga ang mababawasan kasi alam ko maraming [26:31] tulong ako ay nakasama sa magnegosyo taday na iba't ibang mga opening ninyo ano ang masatamaan [26:42] at mapeperwisyo ba yung mga beneficiaries natin uh at the outset uh your honor much of the budget is [26:51] really because we there is a reprogramming or the calibration of our programs uh one good example [26:57] could be as you mentioned the magnegosyo taday uh this year we're concentrating on monitoring [27:03] and the evaluation and checking if it is actually has made impact you know this particular program [27:10] therefore do we have identified um reduced no a reduced number of beneficiaries and target [27:16] beneficiaries for the year another example could be uh maybe we can have our director cooperation [27:22] pagbabago thank you um madam chair this is with regard to our pagbabago a million learners campaign [27:28] uh we are about a reach already our target which is one million learners to be given with the [27:33] pagbabago bags with raincoats and dental kits as well so parang yun na rin po no parang um napakasaya [27:40] na rin po namin dahil hindi na abot ng 2028 may reach na rin po namin yung goal namin for the 1 million [27:47] learners thank you and congratulations on the early attainment of uh the goal stated your targets [27:53] at uh syempre gusto rin namin malaman dun sa magnegosyo of taday kung ilan dun talaga tuloy-tuloy na [28:00] nagnegosyo kasi maganda yung sinasabi nyo kulang na kulang ang monitoring at evaluation sa buong pamahalaan [28:08] at mahusay naman that we take a step back and assess the success and the accomplishment in our actual [28:14] projects uh with that i move that we endorse the budget of the vice president to the plenary thank you [28:23] senator marcos but before that i would like to ask dr bongo mr chair good morning po uh [28:29] sa lahat ng officials ng ovp maraming salamat po sa inyong uh servisyo patuloy na servisyo sa ating [28:37] mga kababayan i just want to express my strong support for the proposed budget of the office of [28:42] the vice president napansin ko po ano from uh 2026 na bawasan pa kayo from 800 million to [28:50] naging 700 plus na lang million ngunit uh patuloy this year po no napansin ko rin po despite the office [28:59] uh limited budget nagkaroon po ang ovp ng mga programang nagbibigay ng tunay na beneficyo sa ating [29:06] mamamayan from disaster operations patuloy po ang inyong tulong pangkabuhayan programs at [29:12] libreng sakay no among others patuloy po ito at uh napagkasha nyo po ang inyong uh pondo salamat po [29:22] these are just some of the programs of the office of the vice president that provide meaningful [29:26] assistance to our fellow filipinos despite its annual limited budget the ovp continues to carry out its [29:35] mandate and deliver services to those who need them most kumusta po yung yung libreng sakay [29:41] uh sa akin tuloy-tuloy po ba uh yes yes sir no very operational po yung ating uh living sakay we [29:52] have nine buses already sir it is deployed in uh particularly we have in edsa carousel monumento [29:58] ptex we have two buses we have also two buses uh operating in the commonwealth and yapo it's vice [30:05] versa we have also ptex tonai kabite and we have one from in bacolod one in cebu city one in dabao and [30:13] one in tacloban city salamat po at uh nakikita ko maraming natutulungan po ito at uh ako mismo [30:22] uh nung mga nakaraang taon ay tayo rin po yung sumuporta sa programang ito sana po yung may [30:28] pagpatuloy nito nakakatulong talaga sa ating mga kababayan sa totoo lamang po inihalal ang vice [30:33] president na hindi lamang para umupo sa pwesto at maging uh spare tire uh inihalal po siya para maging [30:40] working vice president para maglingkod at tumugon sa pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan lahat po [30:46] tayo ay public servants we are meant to serve the filipino people basic mandate po ang tumulong lalo [30:53] na sa nangangailangan ng social services uh salamat po sa inyong lahat no despite your limited budget [31:00] na patuloy kayong nagsiservisyo uh dito lamang po kami kahit isang boto lamang po ako para sumuporta po sa inyong [31:06] opisina basta makakatulong po ng mga programa sa ating mga kababayan pilipino lalong lalo na po [31:12] yung mga mahirap salamat po with that mr chair i second the motion to submit and recommend to the [31:19] plenary the proposed budget of the ovp for 2027 yes uh we take note of the two uh motions by uh [31:28] center marcos and center bongo however yung ano no um it is worth noting that uh among the agencies [31:35] departments being the chairman committee of finance this year lahat po talaga natural na humihingi [31:41] ng taas ng race ng increase in uh most if not uh uh majority of the departments are in are [31:51] appealing to increase their budgets no and uh obp is just one of the departments of the very few just [31:58] like the senate the senate the leadership of our senate president uh the senate uh has a lower um [32:09] budget this year by 1 billion and they noticed that the ovp is less almost 86 million po ang inyong uh [32:17] uh naibawas no from compared to the now 2027 and um ga may correct tama po so ang tanong ko lang ko um [32:28] do you do you still intend to continue with the i think that that's a good program you mean uh [32:33] a negosyo negosyo kaday and uh yung libre sakay any updates lang sayang dun because now that we have a [32:40] crisis no malaking tulong po sana yan kung tutuloy and we will support that dahil uh it will at least [32:47] uh fill in the gaps no because of the means of yung iba ayaw nang bubyahi dahil sa taas ng presyo [32:54] ng ng krudo na nalulugi sila no so sige po attorney zuleka can you bring me with the with the two [33:03] programs uh yes your honor no uh delivery sakay continues to flourish as a matter of fact your honor we [33:09] are expecting our four million passenger anytime within two weeks time i understand no so we already [33:16] have nine buses as mentioned by our director for operation and then it is our own way to provide free [33:22] transport to our uh fellow filipinos no uh daily daily and services for the mag negosyo today as [33:29] mentioned earlier we are concentrating on monitor and checking and evaluating if our beneficiaries [33:35] have actually uh made an impact or made successes of the businesses that were or livelihood that was [33:41] provided then uh yes you're on so are you sure you want to to uh recalibrate and uh and if it's [33:49] successful say i know it's a mga katulong sa mga negosyo oh yes you're on a recalibration it's uh a [33:57] program and uh programming so with that uh actually we will uh support uh the social programs of the office of [34:05] the vice president and uh you know in spite of all of the political noise we are still hoping that one [34:11] day that we uh we will have um um unity in this country you know and um and we would uh we would [34:19] we are looking and praying for that uh in the future and i said our regards to our vice president [34:24] we're hoping to see her uh during plenary and the committee chair would like to thank everyone [34:30] especially our um esteemed resource persons uh led by the chief of staff of the ovp attorney [34:36] so like lopez and the rest of the ovp family thank you for joining uh this morning's um um [34:46] budgeting there being no further questions the budget of the office of the vice president is [34:50] deemed submitted for the playlist consideration subject to the discussion and submission of documents [34:56] requested sana po gusto ko sana 15 minutes e kaso uh tumagalang konde so essentially and send our regards to [35:02] our uh to our vice president magandang umaga po this briefing is here by suspended thank you thank you your [35:09] honors