OVP allotted P733M, AKAP gets P26B
LAWMAKERS from the Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday approved the consolidated version of Malacañang’s proposed 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) worth P6.352 trillion.
Acting Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez said President Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the spending bill by December 20.
“Tentative: Dec 20, 9 a.m.,” Chavez said in a message to the media when asked when the 2025 national budget would be signed.
The Senate and the House ratified the consolidated 2025 national budget during their separate sessions yesterday afternoon.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III and deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros voted no to the approval and ratification of the 2025 GAB.
Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the bicameral conference committee on the 2025 national budget appropriated P733 million for the Office of the Vice President (OVP), which was recommended by House lawmakers and adopted by the Senate despite appeals for additional funding by some senators.
The House slashed by P1.3 billion the more than P2 billion budget request for the OVP after Vice President Sara Duterte refused to attend its budget committee hearings and plenary discussions to explain her office’s 2023 budgets.
During the Senate plenary discussions on the OVP’s budget, which Duterte attended, she manifested that she was leaving it to the discretion of Congress how much budget to allot to her office, even as she said that the lower appropriation would lead to the closure of OVP satellite offices and job losses.
Poe said the P1.3 billion taken away from the OVP allotment was distributed to agencies which need additional funds, including the Departments of Defense and Justice, and state universities and colleges.
The bicameral panel likewise agreed to retain the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), another contentious provision in the proposed national budget, and gave it an allocation of P26 billion as a compromise.
AKAP provides a one-time cash assistance of P3,000 to P5,000 to qualified beneficiaries whose incomes fall below the poverty threshold and who are not covered by other government aid programs.
It is designed for the near poor, or “lower middle class” segment of the population, which includes minimum wage earners vulnerable to economic shocks like the sudden death of a household head, sickness, loss of job or runaway inflation that can easily send them back to poverty.
It was “inserted” by the House in the 2024 and 2025 national budgets as it was neither part of the 2024 and 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by Malacañang.
The Senate has questioned the inclusion of the AKAP in the 2024 national budget, especially after it was linked to the People’s Initiative (PI) signature campaign initiated by the lower chamber to introduce amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
In its version of the spending measure, the House allocated P39 billion for the program. Senators, however, deleted AKAP in its approved version of the 2025 national budget.
Likewise, Poe said the bicameral panel agreed not to give the P74 billion subsidy of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
“Sa ngayon, ang PhilHealth ay hindi nabigyan ng (subsidy) sapagka’t kailangan nilang gamitin muna yung kanilang reserve funds. Kung nakikita naman natin na ganon karami yung pera nila, kailangan gamitin nila yun dahil nasasayang lang…bakit nila iniimbak lang doon, hindi nila ginagamit? (At present, PhilHealth was not granted subsidy because they need to spend their reserve funds first. We have seen that it has a lot of reserve funds… Why are they keeping it and not spending it),” she said.
Poe said PhilHealth has more than P600 billion in excess funds which it can tap for payment of its benefit packages.
OVP BUDGET
Allies of Duterte in the Senate have appealed to the Poe committee to give additional funding to the OVP to allow it to continue providing assistance to the poor.
Poe said the OVP can use P600 million under its P733 million budget for its social assistance programs.
“Siyempre this is a collegial body. Lahat naman tayo meron wish list na gusto nating mapagbigyan pero sa huli ang mananaig din yung mayorya. Inesplika ko naman sa kanila na meron namang pagkakataon ang Office of the Vice President na tumulong pa rin. Meron silang social services allotment na P600 million na puwede nilang gamitin para diyan. Hindi naman sila nawalan at yun nga yung sinasabi ko noong umpisa pa lang, capacitated pa rin sila (This is a collegial body. Each of us has a wish list but in the end the majority rules. I explained to them that the OVP still have the chance to help as they have an allotment for social services amounting to P600 million. The OVP did not lose something and that what I have been saying from the start that they are still capacitated),” Poe said in an interview at the sidelines of the bicam meeting.
Besides, she added, the OVP did not formally request for additional allotments and it only made known its sentiments through the media.
Rep. Zaldy Co, chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the bicameral panel agreed “not to further reduce the OVP’s travel funds.”
AKAP
Poe said the Senate bicameral contingent was convinced by their counterparts that the AKAP assistance will benefit the “near poor,” or those who are earning the minimum daily wage and below.
As a compromise to its retention, Poe said senators will now have access to the AKAP funds.
“Bilang co-equal body at para naman may transparency, ang Senate ay meron ding pagkakataon na makatulong sa pamamagitan ng AKAP
(As a co-equal body and for transparency, the Senate will now have the chance to help through AKAP). Of course, with the supervision of the DSWD), she said.
She said that from the initial P39 billion budget for AKAP, the bicameral committee agreed to reduce it to P26 billion, of which the disbursement of P20 billion will be under the discretion of the House, and the balance, to the Senate.
Poe said the finance committee will release the guidelines for the disbursement of AKAP funds.
Speaker Martin Romualdez thanked senators for granting congressmen’s plea to retain the program.
“Nagpapasalamat tayo sa kapwa nating mga congressmen at sa Senate na sinuportahan nila ‘yung AKAP. Na-maintain at naibalik kaya tuloy-tuloy ang programa ng AKAP para sa mahihirap (We thank our fellow congressmen and to the Senate, for supporting AKAP. The program was maintained and restored, that’s why the AKAP program will continue for the poor),” the Speaker told reporters after the bicameral meeting with senators at the Manila Hotel.
Romualdez, the main proponent of AKAP, also said the House is open to allowing senators to propose beneficiaries to the DSWD, like what congressmen have been doing.
“Well, we can have arrangements now with the Senate. We’re looking forward to that. We were supported by the Senate, so maraming salamat sa ating mga senators (so thank you very much to our senators),” he said.
“Ito’y isang mahalagang programa para sa mga Pilipinong may trabaho ngunit hindi sapat ang kita. Tiniyak ng ating House panel na mananatili ang AKAP sa 2025 budget para tulungan ang ating mga kababayan (This is an important program for working Filipinos whose income are insufficient. Our House panel made sure that the AKAP budget for 2025 will be retained to help our countrymen),” the Speaker said.
PHILHEALTH
Poe said the Malacañang-allotted subsidy for PhilHealth was realigned to other agencies.
“Yung allotment na ibibigay sa kanila ngayon ay nilagay natin doon sa mga departamento na mas nangangailangan (The allotment that should have been given to PhilHealth was distributed to departments which need additional funds),” she said.
Poe said PhilHealth still has funds for its operations.
“Hindi naman sila zero kasi meron silang pang operating cost (They totally do not have zero budget because they have been allotted funds for their operations),” she said.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said removing PhilHealth’s subsidy “is to deny Filipinos our right to health,” pointing out that it is used to pay for the premiums of indirect contributors, including the poor, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities.
She said the premium payment will now be shouldered by ordinary Filipinos who contribute monthly to PhilHealth.
“That’s why this ‘zero subsidy’ is unfair, illegal, and potentially unconstitutional. Paano na lang ang mga kababayang hindi makapagbayad ng kanilang premium contribution. Malaking dagok ito sa mithiin nating magkaroon ng universal healthcare in the country
(How about our countrymen who cannot afford to pay their premium contributions. This is a big blow in our desire to have a universal healthcare in the country),” she said.
Hontiveros said the PhilHealth’s reserve funds cannot be used for premium payment of indirect contributors since it is intended as an emergency fund for the agency’s future financial obligations.
“Ang pagkakamali at pagkukulang ng liderato ng PhilHealth ay dapat iwasto pero hindi dapat maperwisyo ang mga miyembro nito (The sins and shortcomings of the PhilHealth leadership should be corrected and not allow its members to suffer),” she said.
The Executive has ordered the transfer of P89.9 billion of the state insurer’s unused funds to the national treasury. The question on the legality of such transfer if pending before the Supreme Court.
‘FILIPINOS FIRST’
Co said that upon the instruction of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the bicameral panel approved a provision increasing the subsistence allowance of soldiers from P150 to P350, or P10,500 monthly.
The revised budget also includes funding for dams and solar-powered fertigation systems to enhance food security; construction and upgrading of healthcare facilities, like the Philippine Cancer Center, MEGA Hemodialysis Center at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Women and Children’s Medical Center, modernization of the Philippine General Hospital and Philippine Heart Center and other regional specialty hospitals; and the establishment of the Solar Home Systems (SHS) program, which is expected to bring affordable electricity to remote areas.
“Ang SHS ay bahagi ng layunin nating maabot ang 100 percent electrification sa 2028 (SHS supports our goal to achieve 100 percent electrification by 2028),” Co said, adding that for as low as P8 per day, households can access electricity sufficient for four lightbulbs, a transistor radio, a cellphone charger, a DC fan, and a DC TV.
Poe said the Senate’s and House of Representative’s respective versions of the proposed national budget have “many points of divergence” but the bicameral panel was able to reconcile the differing provisions after “discussions, debates” that even reached “moments when agreement seemed impossible.”
“We have championed a budget that puts Filipinos first, with significant increases for social protection, livelihood programs, health, education, and disaster response. This means stronger safety nets for our most vulnerable, better healthcare for every family, and greater investments in the future of our children through improved schools and opportunities,” Poe said in her opening statement during the closing of the bicameral session. – With Wendell Vigilia and Jocelyn Montemayor
UNPROGRAMMED FUNDS
Pimentel last night questioned the big increase in unprogrammed appropriations in the consolidated 2025 national budget.
During his interpellation for the Senate ratification of the bicameral report, Pimentel noted that from P158 billion under the NEP, unprogrammed appropriations ballooned to P531 billion, or was increased by of P373 billion, in the reconciled version.
Poe explained that the unprogrammed appropriation is merely a proposed budget which the President can use when there is an excess in government funds or earnings, or when there are new loans.
“This will come from extra funding the government is able to collect,” she said.
She said the increase in unprogrammed appropriations were taken from a number of programmed appropriations which were based on consultations and priorities.
Pimentel has raised the issue on unprogrammed appropriations in the 2024 national budget before the Supreme Court, and said he might bring the matter again to the High Court.
“I have to be consistent with my stand and beliefs. That means we have another issue that may possibly reach the Supreme Court because the Constitution talks about appropriations, and not increase it as recommended by the President,” he said.
“I have no choice but to raise this with the Supreme Court in a form of, maybe, a supplemental petition,” he added.
