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MANILA, Philippines — Leaders in the House of Representatives are confident that the proposed 2025 national budget will be approved on third reading before Congress goes on a break in October, especially since the National Expenditures Program (NEP) has been transmitted already.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, both Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said that they are looking at approving the proposed P6.352 trillion budget by the third or fourth week of September so that the Senate would have enough time to scrutinize it too.
The Senate can start deliberating on the proposed budget, but it would have to wait for the House version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) before it could make significant changes.
READ: DBM submits proposed P6.3T national budget for 2025 to House
“Well, every budget process is very challenging. As much as possible, we want to work on deadlines and transmit it before the October break, because we have to understand that our counterparts in the Senate has to also work on it. So in order for our counterparts to work on it, we have to transmit it before the October break,” Dalipe said.
READ: Solon thanks Marcos for early budget turnover: More time for scrutiny
“So we are working on a timeline of third or fourth week of September as our deadline in approving the House’s General Appropriations Bill on third reading and subsequently transmitting it to the Senate,” he added.
Gonzales also thinks the deadline would be met because lawmakers are now reviewing the NEP.
“In addition I think we can finish this on time because the copy of the budget was delivered to us already, and all congresspersons are now very busy, maybe they are already reviewing allocations per agency, so that they can tackle our budget for next week,” he said.
“So they’re focusing on our national budget. Number two, if they have their parochial concerns, for their local and other national issues, we can hold that simultaneously,” he added.
Gonzales previously praised President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the executive branch for submitting the budget to Congress early — seven days after the State of the Nation Address (Sona). Under the 1987 Constitution, the budget should be transmitted to Congress within 30 days after a president’s Sona.
This turnover of the NEP is also the earliest under Marcos’s term.
In 2022, DBM submitted the budget for the subsequent year on August 22; in 2023, it was submitted on August 2, or nine days after Marcos’ second Sona.
Dalipe assured the public that the House committee on appropriations has been working hard to assess the proposed budget.
“So hopefully, we can do the 3rd or last week of September deadline,” he said.
“But I’m confident with the efficient work being done by the different vice chairmen of the committee on appropriations plus the active participation of the minority in the budget deliberations, we’ll be able to come up with the House General Appropriations Bill by end of September,” he added.