Velasco: Proposed 2022 nat’l budget on track for enactment before year ends

Speaker and Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco. Photo from the Office of Cong. Velasco

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for next year is on track for enactment before the end of 2021, according to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

This, as the House of Representatives already transmitted House Bill No. 10153 or the 2022 General Appropriations Bill to the Senate two days ahead of the October 27 target date set by the lower chamber.

“In line with our commitment to ensure the timely enactment of next year’s national budget, we have transmitted to the Senate the 2022 GAB duly approved by the House ahead of schedule,” Velasco said in a statement Wednesday.

“In doing so, we hope to give our senators reasonable time to scrutinize and pass their own version of the GAB as we look forward to the bicameral conference where we can thresh out and reconcile the differing provisions of the House and Senate versions,” he added.

READ: House transmits proposed 2022 budget to Senate — Yap

The prompt transmission of the spending plan to the Senate by the House could enable Congress to send the proposed 2022 national budget to Malacañang on time and have President Rodrigo Duterte sign it by December, according to the House leader.

Velasco then stressed the importance of enacting the national budget before the start of the fiscal year on January 1, 2022.

“We cannot afford a reenacted budget, which is expected to dampen the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis,” he pointed out. “A reenacted budget will definitely ruin our efforts to build back better and deliver much-needed services for our kababayans (fellowmen) amid the pandemic.”

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