FACT CHECK: Duterte’s OVP not working with ‘zero budget’ for 2025

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The OVP has a P733-million budget for 2025, contrary to the claim of a viral video that Duterte’s office continues to work with zero budget

Claim: The Office of the Vice President (OVP), headed by Sara Duterte, has continued to work on numerous projects despite operating with “zero budget” for 2025. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The video making the claim has been circulating on Facebook, gaining 63,200 views, 4,000 reactions, and 1,400 shares. It was posted by an account called “Kabalita Hindi Binalita,” which has 80,000 followers.

“OVP patuloy na inaakusahan, zero budget patuloy ang trabaho,” text on the video says. “OVP walang nagawa detalyadong resibo inilabas.”

(OVP continues to be the subject of many accusations, yet it continues to work with zero budget. OVP was left with no choice but to publish detailed receipts.)

No literal receipts are shown in the video, but a clip labeled as “breaking news” lists the achievements of the OVP. 

“Undeterred by budget constraints, the OVP’s commitment to serving marginalized Filipinos has remained unwavering,” the narrator of the supposed report says, but makes no mention of the office supposedly operating with “zero budget.”

The facts: The 2025 budget for Duterte’s office is not zero, as the video claims. The OVP’s own website shows that its budget for this year is P733 million.

Meanwhile, the supposed breaking news report listing the OVP’s achievements actually comes from the livestream of the office’s recognition event on June 16. At the 2:19:30 timestamp, the full audio-visual presentation is shown, but there is no mention of the OVP supposedly having zero budget.

However, the original video did indeed say that Duterte’s office faced budget constraints. This is likely a reference to the OVP’s slashed budget for 2025: amid intense scrutiny over the Vice President’s handling of public funds, lawmakers allotted P733 million for the OVP, a P1.3 billion cut from the original requested budget of P2.037 billion.

In September, Duterte snubbed House deliberations for her agency’s 2025 budget and refused to answer questions from lawmakers. At the time, Duterte floated the idea of the OVP being completely defunded or receiving a budget of one peso. “Handa kami, handa ako, sa Office of the Vice President na magtrabaho kahit walang budget,” she said.

(We are ready. We are prepared, and I am prepared, for the Office of the Vice President to work even with no budget.)

This did not happen. Two months after Duterte made these remarks, the bicameral conference committee confirmed that it would keep the OVP’s budget at P733 million.

Duterte’s impeachment trial: The false claim began circulating amid Duterte’s ongoing but troubled impeachment trial, which will investigate her alleged misuse of confidential funds and questionable transactions as vice president and education secretary.

Four months after her impeachment by the House on February 5, the Senate finally convened as an impeachment court on June 10 but remanded the articles of impeachment back to the House in an unprecedented move. (TIMELINE: Sara Duterte impeachment) 

These developments have escalated tensions between Duterte and former ally President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with their supporters fanning the flames by engaging in disinformation. (READ MORE: [DECODED] Duterte social media army very much alive, roars to defend embattled Sara Duterte)

Previous fact-checks: Rappler has debunked several false claims about Duterte’s impeachment:

• FACT CHECK: SC did not nullify impeachment articles vs Sara Duterte
• FACT CHECK: Video of protest not related to Sara Duterte’s impeachment
• FACT CHECK: Chiz Escudero did not step down from Senate 
• FACT CHECK: Video of students opposing Sara Duterte impeachment is AI-generated
• FACT CHECK: Video of protest not related to Sara Duterte’s impeachment  

– Shay Du/Rappler.com

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