Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday lamented the Department of Budget and Management’s decision to slash the 2022 budget of her by over a fifth.
Attending the budget deliberations at the House of Representatives, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President’s DBM-approved budget for next year is 21 percent less than the P900 million her office got in 2021.
Despite the budget cut, Robredo said she was confident that with the proposed budget for the OVP next year, “we can continue working with our partners to contribute to our shared goals of defeating the virus and improving the lives of our people.”
She said her office would want to allocate “almost half of its total funds in 2022” or P357.602 million for its financial assistance and subsidies under Robredo’s flagship anti-poverty program Angat Buhay.
Lawmakers led by Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado, a Robredo ally, supported a bigger budget for the OVP.
Bordado said that Robredo’s office “deserves more funds.”
“Mr. Chairman, I am therefore proposing once again that the P713 million-budget of the Office of the Vice President for 2022, representing a substantial cut of more than 21 percent, be increased to at least P1 billion,” he said.
But the House committee on appropriations later on approved the DBM-slashed budget for the OVP.