The Philippine Vice President-elect Sara Duterte said Saturday she wants the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to be housed in a permanent structure and her team will temporarily use the Quezon City Reception House as the OVP headquarters before moving to a bigger place.
“Nakalagay po sa ating Constitution na wala naman po talagang trabaho ang vice president except to be a president-in-waiting and except when he or she is assigned a Cabinet position,” she told reporters.
“So the singular legacy that we want to leave after 6 years is a permanent residence for the future vice presidents,” she said.
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Past occupants of the country’s second-highest elective post have all held office in temporary locations and Duterte’s predecessors used the former Legislative Building, which now houses the National Museum; the Philippine International Convention Center; the Philippine National Bank Building; the Coconut Palace; and the Quezon City Reception House as the headquarters of the OVP.
“We are looking at other areas where we can hold all the personnel of the Office of the Vice President including the organic personnel under the office,” Duterte said.
“It will also be the singular project of the OVP that we will leave behind after 6 years which is the permanent Office for the Vice President of the Philippines, which will hopefully benefit the future vice presidents.”
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“We will start with 6 and see how it goes because we understand there will be birthing pains. This will be the first time that it will be done. There is no template, and they are excited,” she said.
The managers for the OVP satellite offices have already held 2 meetings and are excited, she added.
“Each office mayroon akong sinetup na kani-kanilang teams so that each team will only focus on 1 office, so that hindi sila kalat sa kanilang trabaho. I will mostly be with the Department of Education since ’yun ang critical sa atin na ngayon, especially that we are coming out of the pandemic.”
