THE House of Representatives is set to receive today the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023, the first full-year outlay of the administration of President Marcos Jr.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman is set to submit the National Expenditure Program (NEP), upon which the annual general appropriations bill will be based, at around 10:00 a.m. at the Office of the Speaker where he will be met by Speaker Martin Romualdez, majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, minority leader Marcelino Libanan, Rep. Elizalde Co (PL, Ako Bicol), chair of the committee on appropriations and his senior vice chair, Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo.
Under the Constitution, the President “shall submit to Congress within 30 days from the opening of every regular session, as the basis of the general appropriations bill (GAB), a budget of expenditures and sources of financing, including receipts from existing and proposed revenue measures.”
The administration’s economic managers are set to give members of the House appropriations committee a briefing on the macro-economic parameters used in putting the spending proposal together on August 26.
The panel will then hold marathon hearings to scrutinize the bill’s budget allocations for each department, and once it is approved by the committee, this will be sponsored and debated on the plenary. After its third reading and final approval by the House plenary, the measure will be transmitted to the Senate for scrutiny and approval. When the reconciled version of the GAB is ratified by both houses of Congress, this will then be sent to the President for his signature.
The enacted version of the measure will be called the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
The House of Representatives has a self-imposed deadline of approving the budget on or before its month-long recess that will begin on September 30 to give the President ample time to sign it into law in time for Christmas.
Quimbo said the committee aims to finish its hearings by September 16, a Friday, to give the House two weeks for plenary deliberations and third and final reading approval before the October 1 recess.
The lawmaker, who is an economist, said the committee chaired by Co is committed to the swift approval of the proposed “economic recovery budget.”
“Rest assured that Congress shall work tirelessly to approve a budget that is responsive to the needs of the people and is able to bring inclusive and sustainable growth,” said Quimbo.
The budget and its accompanying documents are submitted to the larger chamber of Congress because the Constitution provides that “all appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.”
The proposed budget for next year is P244 billion or almost five percent bigger than this year’s P5.024-trillion outlay. It will be the highest ever spending proposal of the government.