How small is VP Binay’s budget for 2015?

MANILA, Philippines – There’s this saying that politicians often quote about the vice presidents of the Philippines: So near yet so far. They are the second highest public official of the land, yet they are not that really powerful unless the president allows them to be.

That is reflected most clearly in the meager annual budget that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) gets.

For 2015, for instance, the expenditure program proposed by the Department of Budget and Management for the OVP is at P222 million (about US$5 million). It was cut down from the original proposal of P231 million ($5.3 million) but, after the DBM apparently took over the OVP’s proposed item for a computerization program. 

Undersecretary Benjamin Martinez, Binay’s chief of staff, presented the proposed budget before the Senate on Tuesday, September 2. He will present this to congressmen on Wednesday.

“We actually increased by 2.46%. Correct me if i’m wrong, but the DBM should have given us an increase of around 3.5-4%, but we’re actually below that. But our increase is only 2.46%,” he told reporters in a mix of English and Filipino after the budget hearing.

The budget of Binay’s office is peanuts compared to the proposed budget of executive deparments headed by appointed Cabinet secretaries.

It’s a smaller office with smaller tasks compared to, say, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which has a budget of P15.9 billion ($365 million)) and controls institutions like the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection, among others. 

Political observers have been comparing the budgets of the offices of the 2 prospective 2016 candidates.

The Vice President is usually also given a Cabinet post by the President. Binay is also the chairman of the Housing and Urban Coordinating Council (HUCC), also a small agency with a budget of P119.5 million ($2.7 million). 

Martinez lamented their small budget, but maintained that they will make do with what’s allocated for them.

“In a way, it’s small considering sa dami ng pumupunta sa amin na nanghihingi (the number of people who come to us asking for help). We try to adjust. We try to ask the help of some line agencies in filling up the requests, specially for hard projects,” he said.

Binay has always lamented the budget of his office. Unhappy with his former office at the Philippine National Bank Financial Center, he also aciliated the move to the Coconut Palace in Pasay City.

“Ang isang comment nga ni Vice President sa akin, sabi niya, ‘Benjie, ang Office of the Vice President naman, kung tutuusin, executive naman iyan, hindi naman iyan legislative, di ba?’ So in a way, kung tutuusin mo, p’wede rin namang dapat bigyan ng malaki. Pero kami, nagre-request kami. We request, and we respect the approval, kung sino nag-a-approve,” he said.

(The Vice President once made this comment: “Benjie, come to think of it, the Office of the Vice President is an executive office, not legislative.” That means we should actually be given a bigger budget. But we go through the process, we make requests. We request, and we respect the approval, whoever gives that.)

A big chunk of Binay’s proposed budget goes to Miscellaneous and Other Operating Expenses, including P86 million for calamity relief operations, medicines, scholarships, and wheelchairs. 

“Kung pumunta kayo sa OVP makikita nyo sa gate, maraming tao lumalapit doon. These are people na hindi mo naman p’wedeng itaboy, kaya sa awa ng Diyos nabigyan din kami maski papaano, and we’re making the most out of it,” Martinez said.

(If you will go to the OVP, you will see the many people at the gate. These are people you can’t drive away, so thank God we’re have a budget, no matter how much, and we’re making the most out of it.)

In 2012, Binay’s office got a P200-million pork barrel, but the office was among those that had to give it up when the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam erupted. 

“That was a big part of our program in trying to help. But we just have to follow. So we’re making the most of this budget,” Martinez said.

The committee hearing on the budget of the OVP on Tuesday took no more than 15 minutes, with only Senator Francis Escudero listening to Martinez’s presentation. – Rappler.com

*$1 = P43.5