Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The approval of the P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025 will be the priority of the House of Representatives, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Romualdez said the House will pass the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on time, or before Congress adjourns its session in September.
READ: House assures to pass 3 remaining Ledac bills before 19th Congress ends
“Aside from our commitment in approving the few remaining Ledac (Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council) priority measures (agreed upon during its 5th full council meeting June 25), the House will again work doubly hard to pass the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Bill before we go on break this end of September 2024,” Romualdez said.
“We will then transmit the GAB to the Senate for its consideration,” he added.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Tuesday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the P6.352-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2025.
According to the PCO, Marcos’ directives and policy guidance for the NEP include prioritizing food security, social protection, healthcare, housing, disaster resilience, infrastructure, digital connectivity, and energization.
The 2025 NEP is P584 billion higher than the 2024 budget, which was at P5.768 trillion.
READ: Marcos OKs P6.352 trillion National Expenditure Program for 2025
Romualdez said the House would ensure that there is enough funding for education, agriculture, the modernization and welfare programs of the armed forces, infrastructure, and the legacy projects of the administration.
“We have to continue building roads, highways, ports, school buildings, climate change-proof structures, and similar infrastructure to maintain and expand economic growth. Progress has to reach the remotest communities,” he added.
The House under Romualdez, for the past two budget seasons, approved the GAB before the session adjourned in September. This allowed the Senate to deliberate the proposed budget ahead of time and start the plenary debates by November.
Marcos signed the two previous budgets before the preceding year ended — the P5.268-trillion budget for 2023 on Dec. 16, 2022; and the P5.768-trillion budget for 2024 on Dec. 20, 2023.
READ: Bongbong Marcos signs P5.768-trillion 2024 nat’l budget
Signing the budget before the preceding year ends allows the government to avoid having a reenacted budget, or using a previous year’s budget.
The House and the Senate will resume session on the morning of July 22 before Marcos delivers his third State of the Nation Address.
Under Article VII, Section 22 of the 1987 Constitution, the President is required to submit the GAB to Congress 30 days after opening the session.