House to fasttrack nat’l budget okay
THE House of Representatives will target to pass the proposed P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget before the first recess of the 2nd Regular Session of the 19th Congress in October.
This is according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez as he announced that the submission of the proposed budget will be after the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“Pag nangyari po ‘yan, sigurado tatapusin natin ‘yung budget before our October break. We average five weeks of solid work on budget deliberations, consideration, review, and approval through third reading. So we are confident with the processes and protocols and procedures that we have na matatapos natin ang ating national 2024 budget.
That is the most important piece of legislation,” said Romualdez, the administration stalwart and President of the dominant Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD).
He said the budget “aims to sustain the country’s economic growth, create more income and job opportunities for the people and improve their quality of life through the timely delivery of basic social service like education, health care and infrastructure.”
The House leader pointed out that during the deliberation on next year’s spending program, the House would look into how the annual budget is being used and how laws, particularly the new Tenant Emancipation Act, are being implemented.
“The emancipation law lifted the debt burden of our farmers. In other words na-exempt na ang ating mga magsasaka dito sa kanilang mga utang sa acquisition ng lupa nila. We think that is one of the cornerstones of our President’s legislative agenda. He promised this last year, hindi lang na-promise nagawa, napirmahan na,” he added.
He said the nation and every Filipino household should have sufficient rice supply so that no one gets hungry.
That is the primary goal of President Marcos as secretary of agriculture, he said.
“Yung commitment niya, ‘yan ang isa sa number one accomplishment. At sa totoo lang, bilang isang congressman kung ‘yun lang ang panukalang batas na maipasa natin, proud na proud na ko to have been part of the 19th Congress who have passed a very, very important measure that means so much to us as Filipinos because it‘s a life-long dream of every farmer,” he said.
The House will be able to expeditiously scrutinize, deliberate and pass a national budget through a transparent process.
Romualdez urged government agencies to complete the implementation of projects, programs and activities funded under the annual national budget on time.
The proposed national budget for next year is P500 billion higher than this year’s P5.268-trillion spending program. Under the Constitution, the President is given 30 days to submit his budget proposal to Congress.
