The House of Representatives is set to start plenary debates on the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 national budget today.
Speaker Martin Romualdez said the outlay would support President Marcos’ Agenda for Prosperity and Bagong Pilipinas programs.
“It will be our instrument in directly helping the poor through various social protection, financial aid and medical programs, and in keeping food prices down, particularly the price of rice which has fallen to P42 a kilo,” he said on Sunday.
“We hope [through the allocations] to help our farmers and fisherfolk increase their harvest, which in turn will mean adequate food supply and lower prices for the benefit of all Filipinos,” he added.
The proposed spending program “will also serve as our roadmap for expanding infrastructure and supporting education by funding the building of more road networks and classrooms, especially in underserved communities,” Romualdez stressed.
“It will be our tool for sustaining our country’s economic growth, which we hope to keep at six percent or higher in line with the forecasts of international lending institutions,” he noted.
The Speaker lauded the committee on appropriations chairman Rep. Zaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list and senior vice chairperson Rep. Stella Quimbo of Marikina City for concluding the hearings and endorsing the budget on time.
Under its budget deliberation schedule, Congress is devoting eight days for plenary debates to start at 10 a.m. today and is expected to go on until the agenda for the day is finished.
It is scheduled to pass the proposed budget on the third and final reading on Sept. 25 after tackling funding for the Department of Public Works and Highways, Office of the President, and Congress.
The “turno en contra” (remarks against the spending proposal) and period of amendments are also scheduled for that day.
Today’s deliberations were scheduled to kick off with a sponsorship speech by Co, followed by debates on general principles and the budgets of the Department of Finance, Department of Justice, and National Economic and Development Authority, including their attached agencies, the judiciary, and lump sums.
On deck on Tuesday are the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Human Rights, including the the Human Rights Violations’ Memorial Commission, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Tourism, and Development of Labor and Employment, and their attached agencies.
Wednesday would see the House tackling the budgets of the Commission on Elections, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, and several executive offices and state colleges and universities.
On Thursday, the House would tackle the budgets of the Department of National Defense, Department of Migrant Workers, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and their attached agencies, and budgetary support to several government corporations.
On Friday, these would be the turn Presidential Communications Office, Department of Science and Technology, Metro Manila Development Authority, and more executive offices and government corporations to defend their funding.
Between Sept. 23 and 25, the budgets of the remaining departments, agencies and executive offices will be discussed.
These include the departments of Agriculture, Health, Energy, Education, Social Welfare and Development, Transportation, Civil Service Commission, and Commission on Audit.
Quimbo said they would take turns sponsoring the defending the agency budgets.
The recommended reduced funding for the controversial Office of the Vice President would be taken up on Sept. 23.
As this developed, Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre and Bicol party-list Rep. Raoul Angelo Bongalon urged Senator Joel Villanueva to respect interparliamentary boundaries, and not interfere in matters that are solely within the discretion of the House, such as the chamber slashing by almost P1.3 billion the 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President.
Both issued statements, censuring Villanueva for publicly attacking the decision of the committee on appropriations to reduce by P733 million the budget of Vice President Sara Duterte for failure to address the lawmakers’ concerns.
