VP’s travel spending hits P20.68M – BusinessWorld Online
THE Office of the Vice-President (OVP) spent P20.68 million on travel in the first seven months of 2025, accounting for nearly a third of its annual travel budget.
Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio spent P13.27 million on domestic travel from January to July this year, with P3.1 million allotted for her security detail and P10.49 million for accompanying personnel, an infographic posted on the OVP’s Facebook page showed.
The office, meanwhile, spent P7.47 million on international travel, exclusively covering costs for Ms. Duterte’s security and staff as she covered her own expenses abroad, it added.
“We’d like to emphasize that all the travel overseas of the Vice-President is covered by travel authority, and did not use any public funds,” OVP Budget Division Chief Kelvin Gerome L. Tenido said in a media briefing.
The Vice-President’s travel has come under scrutiny from critics following a series of trips, some of which are tied to calls for the release of her father, ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Mr. Duterte has been detained at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since March on charges of crimes against humanity linked to his administration’s deadly anti-drug campaign. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio