MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE) The congressional bicameral conference committee on Wednesday approved the proposed P1.54 trillion national budget next year.

But the committee will still meet Thursday to fine tune the wordings of its report before it is transmitted for ratification to the Senate and the House of Representatives, said Senator Edgardo Angara, head of the Senate panel.

Angara said Congress will hold session on Friday to approve the appropriations bill before its submission to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for signature.

Instead of the proposed P1.126-billion slash in the budget of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Angara said the committee agreed to restore the P1 billion capital outlay. But he added that P300 million of the budget would be realigned to the pensions of police and military.

On Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago?s proposal to cut the budget of the Supreme Court by P162 million, the committee agreed instead to restore half of the amount.

Angara said the committee maintained the P25 billion debt cut proposal of the House.

At the same time, he denied there was a delay in the budget deliberations because some lawmakers were pushing for a higher priority development assistance fund next year.

Each senator, he said, would still get P200 million as ?pork barrel? while every House member would get P70 million next year.