MANILA – The Senate on Monday approved the proposed P902.895 million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2026 in less than an hour, following a motion to extend parliamentary courtesy.

Vice President Sara Duterte, who attended the budget deliberations led by the Senate finance subcommittee chaired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, said she chose not to seek a higher budget allocation, knowing it would not be granted.

“A bigger budget means more people will be provided with assistance. But I decided not to submit a bigger budget because we know it will not be given. We’d only be fooling ourselves if we submitted a bigger proposal that would simply revert to what was in the NEP,” Duterte told reporters after the hearing, referring to the National Expenditure Program.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri described the OVP budget as “lean and mean” before moving to grant parliamentary courtesy, a motion that Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa seconded. No senator objected.

Pro-Duterte lawmakers expressed full support, with Sen. Bong Go even proposing to augment the OVP budget by transferring a portion of his Senate office allocation. “Kung pwede lang po, Mr. Chair, kung allowed po ito bawasan po ang budget ko sa opisina sa Senado kahit konti ilagay na lang po sa OVP,” Go said.

The OVP’s 2026 budget is higher than its ₱733 million allocation in 2025 but remains below the levels in the earlier years of Duterte’s term—₱2.3 billion in 2023 and ₱1.8 billion in 2024.

In 2025, the office’s budget was slashed after questions were raised over ₱375 million in confidential fund spending in 2023. That controversy later sparked an impeachment complaint against Duterte over alleged corruption.

Duterte attended Monday’s Senate hearing with her staff. Earlier this month, she appeared alone at the House appropriations committee deliberations on the OVP budget.