The Office of the Vice President (OVP) reported that it has spent P20.68 million on Vice President Sara Duterte’s local and foreign travels as of July 31, with officials defending that her overseas trips were not funded by public money.
Kelvin Gerome Tenido, OVP Budget Division chief, said ₱13.21 million was allocated for local trips while ₱7.47 million went to foreign travels. Assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio clarified that Duterte’s international trips were backed by official travel authorities and emphasized that no public funds were used.
Duterte is scheduled to visit Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 20 and 21 for Filipino community gatherings, part of her campaign to seek the release of her detained father, former president Rodrigo Duterte. The trip will mark her 13th foreign visit this year.
Her frequent overseas engagements include four visits to The Hague, Netherlands, as well as trips to Kuwait, France, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Qatar, and Hong Kong earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, Tenido said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) trimmed the OVP’s proposed 2026 budget to P902.9 million from P942 million. Still, the figure is P170 million, or 21.3 percent, higher than this year’s P733 million allocation. He added the OVP’s budget would return to pre-2023 levels and clarified that it will not cover the Vice President’s Ang Kaibigan children’s book project.
