Bicam OKs proposed 2021 nat’l budget

Photo from the Office of Sen. Sonny Angara

MANILA, Philippines — The 2021 national budget, which is seen to drive the country’s pandemic response and recovery efforts, is another step closer to being enacted after the bicameral conference committee approved Wednesday the final version of the proposed bill for ratification by both chambers of Congress.

Senator Sonny Angara, who chairs the upper chamber’s committee on finance, earlier said both the Senate and House contingents to the bicam focused on responding to the pandemic and calamities, especially following the recent series of typhoons that ravaged the country.

In an interview on Tuesday, House appropriations chair Eric Yap said that the bicam version of the national budget included allocations for the purchase of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), enhancement of health facilities, and financial aid to poor families.

The national budget, Yap added, also set aside funds for infrastructure projects for provinces ravaged by the typhoons.

With the bicam approving the national budget, the Senate and the House  are now expected to  ratify it  this  Wednesday  afternoon so it can be submitted to the office of President Rodrigo Duterte for signature.

Yap earlier said the target was to transmit the 2021 budget bill to Malacañang for the President’s signature by December 18 or December 21, at the latest.

EDV