BUDGET OKAY
THE House of Representatives is set to approve the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 national budget on third and final reading this week.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said the House is adhering to its plenary deliberation-approval timeline “because we are treating the national spending program with urgency without sacrificing transparency.”
The approval of the outlay before Congress goes on recess next weekend would give the Senate enough time for its own debate-passage process.
“We have sufficient time to finally agree on the budget before yearend. It is the most important piece of legislation Congress passes every year,” he said.
“Next year’s spending legislation will serve as our tool for sustained economic development. It will support the Agenda for Prosperity programs of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr.,” he added.
The House leader stressed that the budget would also “serve as an instrument for the government to spread the dividends of economic progress through various social protection and financial assistance initiatives, and funding for infrastructures like roads, hospitals, classrooms, seaports and airports, irrigation systems, and transportation networks.”
“We hope our people will feel the benefits of growth through the programs intended for them in the national budget,” he added.
The House leader earlier thanked the committee on appropriations led by its chairman Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, and senior vice chairperson Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo for enduring the 2025 spending bill on time.
House Majority Leader Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose “Mannix” M. Dalipe, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, said President Marcos is expected to certify the proposed 2025 as urgent.
Dalipe said the certification will enable the House of Representatives to approve the 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on both second and final reading on the same day.
Scheduled to be tackled this Monday up to Wednesday are the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President. Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Administration, Department of Health, Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission; Civil Service Commission, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Commission on Audit, Department of Transportation, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Congress, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Education, and several executive offices.
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TRUTH OATH
