By Junex Doronio
Even though Congress has removed her P650 million confidential funds for the upcoming year, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte expressed her unwavering determination to continue serving the public.
Inday Sara — as the Vice President is fondly called — said she has committed to making government services more accessible to the public with the establishment of 10 Office of the Vice President (OVP) satellite offices across the country.
“Patuloy ang Office of the Vice President sa layuning landasin ang mga hakbang tungo sa pag-unlad at pagbabago. Ang ating dedikasyon at serbisyo ay tunay na naglalayong mapalapit ang pamahalaan sa bawat mamamayan,” VP Duterte said in a Facebook post on Friday, Oct. 27.
The House of Representatives led by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G Romualdez decided to strip the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) of confidential funds for 2024.
The OVP earlier asked for confidential funds of P500 million, while DepEd sought P150 million, for next year.
The lawmakers led by Romualdez decided to realign the confidential funds to the agencies with national security concerns.
Duterte recently held a meeting with officials from the OVP satellite offices in Bacolod, Isabela, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Cebu, CARAGA, Dagupan, Davao, Bicol, Tacloban, and Zamboanga.
She explained that the OVP satellite offices were established to deliver the Vice President’s projects and programs to more people.
Among these programs are Medical and Burial Assistance, Libreng Sakay, PagbaBAGo Campaign: A Million Learners and Trees, Mag Negosyo Ta ‘Day (MTD), Disaster Operations, PanSarap Program, and Peace 911.
“Sa pamamagitan nito, hindi lamang nakasentro sa National Capital Region ang ating mga programa at naibabahagi rin natin ito sa mga malalayong lugar sa Pilipinas,” Duterte said.
(ai/mnm)
