The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations is set to submit on Tuesday the proposed P5.268 trillion 2023 budget to the plenary for sponsorship and deliberations, with a view to “judicious but swift approval” of the government’s National Expenditure Plan for next year.
“House Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe said he expects the floor debates to last from Sept. 20 to 28, as the House is determined to approve the measure on or before Sept. 30.
Upon the instruction of Speaker Martin Romualdez, Dalipe said the House Appropriations Committee and the House Committee on Rules, which he chairs, have agreed to submit the NEP to the plenary for sponsorship and floor debates beginning Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Senator Sonny Angara said almost 90 percent of the proposed 2023 national budget will be spent on government projects and only around 11 percent will be used in paying for loan interests.
Dalipe said the House leadership under Speaker Romualdez, Appropriations committee chair Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, and the other committee members pushed the budget panel to work at “record breaking” speed to scrutinize the budget and ensure that it is “responsive to the needs of the people and compliant with the spending requirement of the Marcos administration.”
Dalipe also assured that the NEP and all its provisions are transparent, above-board, and designed to uplift the lives of the Filipino people.
“The House leadership is confident that the NEP will be adequately reviewed and scrutinized to ensure that the best interest of our people is protected. We will not allow any manipulation by any syndicate or by any group to favor certain groups or individuals. We will scrutinize the budget and ensure the judicious allocation and use of our national budget,” Dalipe said.
The debates will cover the general principles and provisions of the budget measure, starting with at least seven government departments and constitutional bodies.
These are the Department of Finance including its attached agencies and corporations, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Office of the Ombudsman; the Commission on Human Rights including the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission, the Commission on Elections, the Department of Science, and other Executive offices such as the Anti-Red Tape Authority and the Mindanao Development Authority.
Scheduled for floor deliberations on Wednesday are the following agencies: State Universities and Colleges (NCR, Regions I to CARAGA Region, CAR, BARMM); Commission on Higher Education; Climate Change Commission; Commission on Filipinos Overseas; Games and Amusement Board; Philippine Space Agency; Philippine Sports Commission; Movie and Television Review and Classification Board; Commission on the Filipino Language; Film Development Council of the Philippines; Optical Media Board; National Commission for Culture and the Arts; National Commission for Culture and the Arts; National Historical Commission of the Philippines; National Library of the Philippines; National Archives of the Philippines; Philippine Racing Commission; Philippine Competition Commission; Governance Commission for GOCCs; Budgetary Support to Government Corporations; Cultural Center of the Philippines; Philippine Center for Economic Development; Development Academy of the Philippines; Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan; Cagayan Economic Zone Authority; Bases Conversion and Development Authority; Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority; Southern Philippines Development Authority; Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority; Allocation to Local Government Units and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority; Department of Justice, including Attached Agencies; Civil Service Commission Including Career Service Executive Board and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.
For Thursday, the budget for the following agencies will be tackled on the floor: The Judiciary; Office of the Vice President; Department of Education, including Attached Agencies; Other Executive Offices such as the Dangerous Drugs Board; Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency; Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Department of Health, including Attached/Agencies/Corporations.
Scheduled on Friday are the following agencies: Department of Agrarian Reform; Department of Labor and Employment, Including Attached Agencies; Department of Migrant Workers; Department of National Defense, including Attached Agencies and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity.
Angara said the proposed national expenditures program lower than in the ‘80s and ‘90s when the government allotted 25 to 30 percent of the national budget to pay for loan interests.
Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, also said out of the P5.2 trillion proposed 2023 budget, almost 70 percent will be
sourced out from tax collections and more than 20 percent will be coming from international loans.
He also dismissed assumptions that these loans will have negative effects on the financial status of the country.
“Our people should not be alarmed because we are actually borrowing money every year. Since then, several decades ago. The important thing is that the borrowed money should all be allotted in significant projects and programs that would really help our countrymen,” Angara said in an interview with DWIZ.
He said the loans will be spent on education, health, and other government programs that are considered “human capital investment.”
The Senate Finance committee recently concluded a series of briefings with the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) which has already submitted the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP).
The DBCC is composed of the Departments of Finance, Budget and Management, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, National Economic Development Authority, and the Office of the President.
After being scrutinized, the 2023 NEP will become the 2023 General Appropriations Bill, which will be brought to the plenary and ratified by both the Senate and the House of Representatives to become the General Appropriations Act of 2023.