Vice President Sara Duterte announced on Saturday that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) will not seek confidential funds for the year 2025, despite the next year’s budget program being set at P6.352 trillion.
“For the Office of the Vice President, no, we do not have a proposal for confidential funds for [next year],” Duterte said during an ambush interview with reporters in Cebu at the Pasidungog awards for partners of the OVP’s various programs.
Previously, Duterte had relinquished P500 million in confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) under the proposed 2024 national budget. Additionally, during the plenary deliberations on the 2024 proposed budget of the Department of Education (DepEd), Senator Pia Cayetano revealed that Duterte had also foregone the agency’s P150 million in confidential funds.
Duterte recently resigned as DepEd chief and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), emphasizing that her resignation was driven by her concern for teachers and students, not weakness.
During the 188th Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) meeting, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman announced that the proposed 2025 national budget is equivalent to 22% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is 10.1% higher than this year’s budget of P5.768 trillion. The proposed spending program for 2025 is also higher than the previously announced P6.2-trillion national expenditure plan.