Out of courtesy, the House committee on appropriations today dispensed with the budget presentations of the Office of the President (OP) and Office of the Vice-President (OVP). The committee decided to scrutinize the budget of the country’s two highest offices in the sub-committee hearing instead.
 
Before acting Executive Secretary Jesus Dureza could even present the OP's budget, Tawi-Tawi Rep. Nur Jaafar moved to terminate the budget briefing. He was immediately seconded by the president's son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, as well as by deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa, and Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas.

No one objected.
 
The same happened when the representatives of the Office of the Vice-President arrived. Jaafar immediately moved to dispense with the presentation and several congressmen seconded him.

"It's out of courtesy. We abbreviated the proceeding. This is not the first time," Jaafar told reporters later. He said the congressmen can study the budget by themselves.
 
"We have the briefing materials already. The nitty-gritty part of it will be discussed in the sub-committee level," Jaafar said.

The proposed budget of the Office of the President in 2009 decreased by 30.5 percent—from P4.3 billion in 2008 to P3 billion in 2009. The difference was in the allotted capital outlay. It was allotted only P41.3 million in 2009 compared to its P1.4 billion in 2008.

The proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President increased by 2.1 percent.