HOUSE APPROVES P10.5-B OP BUDGET FOR 2025

THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the proposed P10.5-billion budget of the Office of the President (OP) for 2025.

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro and Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza were the only interpellators.

The period of sponsorship and interpellation for the OPs budget lasted only for 33 minutes.

In his speech, House Appropriations Committee vice chair and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco cited the importance of executive-legislative collaboration to ensure that the country’s interests are advanced and essential government services are delivered to the people.

“The presence here today of the Honorable Executive Secretary (Lucas Bersamin) and of the senior officials of the Office of the President manifests the continued cooperation between our branches in upholding our mutual objective of promoting the welfare of our people and the country’s interests,” Tiangco said.

Tiangco underscored the need for continued legislative support to help President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. achieve these objectives.

“As the President values the cooperation between our branches in the fulfillment of our common goal of development, it is but appropriate for us to likewise show our support to a presidency that constantly advances the interests of our nation and strives to deliver good government services for the good of our people,” he said.

According to Tiangco, the proposed 2025 budget for the OP is 1.88 percent lower than the previous year’s allocation.

The Navotas solon said that despite the reduction of the proposed budget of the Office of the President for fiscal year 2025, the President through the Executive Secretary assures that the same will not affect the delivery of services of the President to the people.

Tiangco said the proposed budget of the Office of the President constitutes “a mere 1/9th of 1 percent of the total national budget.”

Despite this modest share, the lawmaker said the administration’s work had produced results that have been “positively felt by the people.”