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OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 2011 BUDGET: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Franklin Drilon and Exec. Sec. Paquito Ochoa huddles during the Committee on Finance hearing on the proposed 2011 budget of the Office of the President (OP) today, September 30.
He pointed out that the budget reduction not only affected the Office of the Vice President, but also other agencies including the Office of the President itself.
“All of these were done to reduce the expenses of the government. Hindi iyon specifically nakatutok lang sa OVP,” Lacierda explained.
During a Senate budget hearing on Thursday, Binay decried the P177.1-million budget allotted to the OVP, pointing out that the figure is lower than the P195 million his office asked for. It is also P7.9 million less than the OVP’s 2010 budget.
The OP, according to Lacierda has even slashed its budget request for the next fiscal year by 4.3 percent to P4.075 billion from the previous adminis-tration’s P4.259 billion.
To keep the expenses low, he pointed out that the OP already reduced the spending plan across the various services within Malacañang and abolished 10 attached offices.
It has also, he said, realigned the money from the Palace intelligence funds and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission to cover the funding requirements of the two new offices.
Next year’s appropriation for MOOE, Lacierda said was also cut by P163.9 million, with professional services getting the biggest cut of P152.7 million, and a cutback in expenses for printing, advertising, travel and representation allowance.