The Senate Committee on Finance on Tuesday approved the proposed ₱785.204-million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for fiscal year 2027 following a hearing that lasted less than 20 minutes.

Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee A chair Sen. JV Ejercito endorsed the proposed budget for plenary consideration after Sen. Imee Marcos moved for its approval and Sen. Bong Go seconded the motion. No senator objected.

The OVP is seeking ₱785.204 million for 2027, down by ₱104.032 million, or 11.7%, from its ₱889.236-million appropriated budget for 2026.

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte was absent from the hearing, with OVP Chief of Staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez attended on behalf of the office.

Lopez explained that Duterte was representing her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, at the inurnment of their longtime city planner in Davao City, following Senate President Win Gatchalian’s questioning of her absence from the budget hearing.

“The Vice President is actually representing former president Rodrigo Duterte in the inurnment of our long serving city planner in Davao City. The schedule for the inurnment is today, October 20,“ Lopez said.

“She is the representative of the former president,” she added.

Gatchalian expressed hope that Duterte would personally defend her office's proposed budget during the Senate plenary deliberations after missing the committee hearing.