黑料社

MANILA,聽 Philippines鈥� Despite the budget cuts, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) still has about P600 million for its social program,聽 Sen. Grace Poe said on Wednesday.

Poe made this clarification following the Senate鈥檚 decision on the floor to retain the House of聽 Representatives 鈥� approved down from Malacanang鈥檚 recommended P2.03 billion funding.

Her colleagues, however, may still propose changes to the OVP budget during the period of amendments, according to her.

鈥淜asi naman yung period of amendments, hindi pa naman tapos yun. So sa ngayon, oo, it鈥檚 retained,鈥� said Poe, who heads the Senate聽 committee on finance, when interviewed about the OVP budget.

(Because the period for amendments is not finished yet. So for now, yes, it鈥檚 retained.)

鈥淧ero also for the information of the public, meron naman mga social programs pa rin. Meron pa rin funding na iba,鈥� she said, adding that her committee is just getting the details from the OVP.聽

(But also, for the information of the public, there are still social programs. There is still funding for other initiatives.)

鈥淭hey鈥檙e about, if I鈥檓 not mistaken, about P600 million also still for social programs. But we鈥檝e been waiting for submission also from the OVP what the itemized allocations are for,鈥� the senator further said.

The absence of supporting documents was one of the reasons why, she said, the finance panel adopted the House-recommended budget for the OVP.

Nevertheless, Poe reiterated that Senators Ronald 鈥淏ato鈥澛� Dela Rosa and Christopher 鈥淏ong鈥� Go鈥� Duterte鈥檚 known allies鈥攁re still free to introduce amendments to the OVP budget at the proper time

鈥淥f course, I鈥檓 only the chairman. It will also depend on the approval of the body,鈥� she pointed out.

Earlier at the session hall, Dela Rosa expressed his intention to propose changes to the聽 OVP budget.聽

Go, for his part, appealed to his colleagues to restore the budget cuts to the OVP, particularly the funding for its social services.聽

鈥淲hile we understand聽 that some of the OVP鈥檚 program聽 are also being done by other government agencies, wala naman po sigurong 聽 masama聽 kung bigyan聽 po ng budget ang OVP para sa social services (there is probably nothing wrong with providing the OVP with a budget for social services),鈥澛� he said.

鈥淟et me repeat, yung social services sana po鈥檡 maibalik鈥︹�� Go stressed.

(Let me repeat, I hope the social services budget is restored.)