Hontiveros mulls realigning VP Sara’s P10M budget for children’s book
A day after she figured in a heated verbal exchange with Vice President Sara Duterte, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros disclosed plans to realign the proposed P10-million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for the distribution of her children’s book “Isang Kaibigan.”
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/21/hontiveros-mulls-realigning-vp-sara-s-p10-m-budget-for-children-s-book
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READ: https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/21/hontiveros-mulls-realigning-vp-sara-s-p10-m-budget-for-children-s-book
Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel! - https://www.youtube.com/TheManilaBulletin
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manilabulletin
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/manila_bulletin
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Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@manilabulletin
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Transcript
00:00I first asked about the duplication of appropriations for programs that his office wants to do.
00:12But it's like duplicating the current programs of the departments.
00:20And by the way, this is not the first time that I raised this issue.
00:24So, I can't say that this is the first time.
00:27I also raised this issue before in the NTF-LCAC,
00:30that there are departments that are doing programs in partnership with LGUs,
00:37so why don't we just put them in the departments?
00:40Same principle here in the OVP.
00:43At least, in the beginning, his answer was that he would bow to the wisdom of the Congress,
00:51even though he has a stake in a political department.
00:58My second question is that he is no longer bowing to the wisdom of the Senate.
01:04And what I asked is also very fair,
01:07because his office has a program worth P100 million
01:13about collecting P1 million bags for children in hard-to-reach communities
01:21and including tree planting.
01:23And what I asked is the P10 million item within that P100 million program budget
01:30that will distribute a book that he wrote,
01:35but will use the government funds, the taxpayers' money, to collect.
01:41So, it's very fair and I think it should have been asked,
01:46but that was his answer.
01:49Well, first of all, and I said this to Chair Grace,
01:52at the proper time, I will propose an amendment
01:55that the items for the duplicating programs of his office
02:02will be realigned, if possible, to the departments that have such programs.
02:11Or at the very least, within OVP, but earmarked,
02:16that the OVP will request the department that has such programs
02:23to authorize the use of such programs of that department.
02:29Our fiscal space is already tight,
02:32and the money of our departments is always lacking,
02:36especially in such social protection programs.