House to reconvene Monday for 2025 national budget ratification

Facade of the House of Representatives. | PHOTO: Official website of the House of Representatives / congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will reconvene for the ratification of the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 national budget on Monday.

Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said the lower chamber is expecting the Senate to pass the proposed budget soon. Both chambers will then task a bicameral conference committee to accomplish a common version of the outlay.

“We hope to ratify the bicam report before our Dec. 20 Christmas break. There is enough time to approve the final version of the budget,” Dalipe said in a statement on Sunday.

“As in the past, the spending program for the coming year will be in place before the current fiscal year is over to ensure continuity of spending and seamless implementation of activities and programs,” he added.

The House also aims to pass the remaining measures in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) priority list. These are the Budget Modernization Bill, the National Defense Bill, amendments to the Agrarian Reform Law, and amendments to the Foreign Investors’ Long-Term Lease.

According to Dalipe, 26 of the 28 bills in the Ledac list have been approved ahead of its deadline on June 30, 2025.

The two measures left are amendments to the Agrarian Reform Law and amendments to the Foreign Investors Long-Term Lease.

Below is the list of six measures that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law.

• Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act (Republic Act No. 12009)
• Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act (RA 12010)
• Amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act (RA 12022)
• VAT on Digital Transactions (RA 12023)
• Self-Reliant Defense Posture Act (RA 12024)
• Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning Program (RA 12028)

Dalipe also said the House quad committee is scheduled to conduct more hearings on the Duterte administration’s drug war and extrajudicial killings, as well as the illegal activities of Philippine offshore and gambling operators.

The quad panel’s 10th hearing is on November 7, and President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to attend.

The House good government and public accountability committee is also expected to continue its probe into Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged misuse of her office’s funds.