VP Sara's Attendance at OVP Senate Budget Hearing Yet to Be Confirmed

Vice President Sara Duterte has yet to confirm her attendance at the Senate hearing for the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) budget, Senator JV Ejercito said Sunday. "Wala pa hong pasabi. Hindi pa natin alam (She has not said anything yet, so we don't know)," Ejercito told Super Radyo dzBB. According to Ejercito, the budget hearings for the OVP and the Office of the President will be tackled last due to the Senate's tight schedule, as they are also convening as an impeachment court. The OVP has proposed a budget of P785.204 million for 2027, which is 11.7% lower than its P889.236 million appropriated budget for 2026. In a statement, the OVP said the 2027 budget aims to support the agency’s continued delivery of assistance and services to beneficiaries nationwide. Meanwhile, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian earlier said that issues being tackled by the impeachment court cannot be raised during the OVP budget deliberations. "She will appear as the head of the agency. Her budget will be discussed in her capacity as head of the agency, but the issues currently being tackled by the impeachment court can no longer be discussed because they are already part of the case," Gatchalian said. Furthermore, Gatchalian said the Senate will not provide confidential funds to the OVP, the Department of Education (DepEd), and other civilian agencies. "Not just the OVP and DepEd, but other civilian agencies as well. As a rule, we will not allow confidential funds. If there are any requests, they will have to be properly justified, and we will scrutinize them closely," he said. Article 1 of the impeachment complaint accused Duterte of the systematic misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to ₱500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and ₱112.5 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as education secretary.