It is now up to Senator Grace Poe–Senate Finance Committee chair–and other senators whether or not they will ask Vice President Sara Duterte to be present during the upper chamber’s deliberations on the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) proposed 2025 budget at the plenary level, Senate President Francis Escudero said.
Escudero, quoted by GMA News, said: “That’s up to Senator Grace. If there’s an instance that the agency head is not present for any reason, it’s the sponsoring chairman that has to decide. It also depends on the members of the Senate if they will request the agency head to attend.”
Despite Duterte earning the ire of some lawmakers at the House of Representatives for repeatedly skipping the budget deliberations there, Escudero said he does not want to preempt the decision of the senators when it comes to the Senate’s own plenary hearings.
“I repeat, I don’t want to preempt anything and I don’t want to say that there is such a condition before the budget plenary deliberation even starts,” Escudero, quoted by GMA News, said.
In September, Duterte said she would attend the plenary deliberations on the OVP budget at the Senate.
She also said that she is no longer expecting that the OVP’s proposed P2 billion budget for 2025 to remain the same, adding that her office will just work around any budget given to them.
“With the P700 million, we will see what will be left and then we will work around that budget of the Office of the Vice President,” Escudero further said.
