Senate finance body ready to tackle P2.26 trillion budget

Senator Francis Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Senate committee on finance is ready to start deliberations   of the proposed   P2.26 trillion national  budget  for 2014 on the  third week of  August, its chairman  said  on  Thursday.

Senator  Francis”Chiz” Escudero said   the committee  that he chairs is tentatively  set  to start  its budget deliberations  on  August  19, and  he hopes to wrap up before Congress goes on recess in September.

When sessions resume  in October,  Escudero expects that the House  of  Representatives will be done  with its own   deliberations of the national budget.

And by December, he said,  the Senate  should  have approved the appropriations on the floor and  transmit  it to the bicameral  conference committee .

Escudero said he expects Congress to submit the 2014 national budget  for President Benigno Aquino III’s signature before the end of the year.