TURNING POINT: Be Careful What You Wish for

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 15 Sept) — The wings of the high-flying Vice President were clipped when her P2B budget was slashed to just P733 million, smaller than her P947 Financial Assistance Fund of 2024.

She got what she wished for at the end.

Vice President Sara Duterte refused to answer questions on her office’s budget, indirectly suggesting that the hearing committee may do what it wishes to do about it. The hearing was reset to uphold the constitutional process. Yet, the VP snubbed the re-scheduled hearing.

In her absence, the House Appropriation Committee scrutinized how the OVP 2024 budget was spent with the help of the Commission of Audit (COA) before tackling the OVP 2025 budget proposal.

The Committee found several irregularities and anomalies in the expenditures of the OVP. It established 10 satellite and two extension offices, unprecedented in history, to carry out programs that duplicated the regular functions, among others, of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, and the Local Government Units.

From P947.1M in 2023, the OVP budget rose to P2.3B in 2024, an increase of 226.5%.

VP Sara used freely the huge (P947M) Financial Assistance Fund in a livelihood program (Mag Negosyo ta, Day) giving business capital to selected women beneficiaries.

The OVP also delivered social services: medical and burial assistance, and distribution of wheelchairs, school bags, and supplemental food for school children (buns).

It launched Kalusugan Food Trucks intended, accordingly, to alleviate schoolchildren’s malnutrition and address the nutritional issues faced by children in communities.

The Libreng Sakay program in Metro Manila, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Bacolod, and Davao City aims to help alleviate the mobility concerns of thousands of Filipino commuters living in key cities of the country. While Libreng Sakay is of great value during inclement weather, it is not a worthy solution to traffic mess. It is expensive and unsustainable.

The COA noted the purchases of welfare goods were not liquidated; and were lacking in documentation, such as in the number of actual beneficiaries, acknowledgment receipts, or. In some instances, supposed beneficiaries were to sign acknowledgment before an item was received, if at all. There were no proper storage facilities for bulk food materials – they were found rotting in some places.  Food packs were nearing expiry and remained in unventilated storage.

Considering the COA’s findings, the House Appropriation Committee expunged the rents and operating expenses for 10 satellite and 2 extension offices and reverted the operations of the OVP to a single office.

The Financial Assistance (FA) Fund of P947M, the OVP’s source of money for those seeking burial, medical, transportation, and similar aid is transferred to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program of the DSWD and the medical assistance program to the Department of Health.

VP Sara has been saying that the confidential funds issues were weaponized against her; thus, she snubbed the hearing on the OVP budget. With the monumental slash in her budget, she might declare that the entirety of the hearing conducted in her absence was weaponized against her. Would there be war?

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is a retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental)