SEN. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, yesterday said that members of the bicameral committee reconciling differences in the Senate and House of Representatives versions of proposed 2025 national budget have agreed to hold an “open bicam” to make the process transparent.
In a text message to the media, Poe said an open bicam would allow members of the Senate and House bicameral contingents to openly discuss the contentious provisions of the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025.
She said the change in the budget discussions would ensure full transparency, pointing out that the public will know how lawmakers would come up with the final version of the spending measure.
“We both agreed [to the open bicam proposal],” she said, adding that under the agreed process, “our colleagues are welcome to ask in the open.”
She did not elaborate.
Rep. Zaldy Co, chairperson of the House appropriations committee, has yet to confirm Poe’s statement as of publication.
The bicameral group’s convened last November 28. It is scheduled to hold its next meeting tomorrow, December 11, at the Maynila Ballroom of the Manila Hotel at 10 a.m.
Among the contentious provisions in the proposed budget are the proposed budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), which was reduced by more than P1.3 billion by the House and adopted by the Senate; and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), which the Senate deleted from the proposed budget.
Senators have argued that one-time cash assistance programs such as the AKAP are not a sustainable way of helping the “near poor.”
Allies of Vice President Sara Duterte in the Senate have asked the Poe’s committee to increase the OVP budget so the Vice President can continue with her office’s social assistance programs.
The plea was dismissed by Poe, who said that around P600 million in the approved P733 million OVP budget can still be used for the office’s social programs.
President Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the proposed P6.352 trillion budget for 2025 into law before Christmas, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza said yesterday.
In an ambush interview on the sidelines of the signing of various bills in Malacañang, Mendoza said at least four priority bills, including the budget, could “hopefully” still be signed before the year ends.
He did not name the other three measures.
Asked if the bill postponing the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which is supposed to be held simultaneously with the 2025 midterm and local elections, would be included, Mendoza did not directly respond but said pointed out that measure is still being discussed in the House of Representatives and will still undergo deliberations in the Senate.
The President yesterday convened the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) in Malacañang to discuss the status of the different priority measures of the administration.
The meeting was held after Marcos signed into law RA 12078, or the Amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Act; RA 12078, or the VAT Refund for Non-Resident Tourists; and RA 12080, or the Basic Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act.
Mendoza said 70 to 80 percent of the administration’s priority bills and those endorsed by LEDAC in September have been enacted into law.
These include RA 12064, or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which aims to declare the rights and entitlements of the Philippines over its maritime zones to establish legal bases for the conduct of social, economic, commercial, and other activities in the areas; RA 12065, or the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, which designates the sea lanes and air routes suitable for the continuous and expeditious passage of foreign ships and aircraft through or over country’s archipelagic water and the adjacent territorial sea; RA 12066, or the CREATE MORE Act, which seeks to generate more jobs for Filipinos and spur economic growth; RA 12063, or the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act, which aims to institutionalize and strengthen apprenticeship programs in the country to address the jobs-skills mismatch; and RA 12022, or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which makes agricultural smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, cartel, and financing of these crimes as acts of economic sabotage.
Other priority measures that have been signed into law were the SIM Card Registration Act, the law on Strengthening Professionalism in the AFP, New Agrarian Emancipation Act, Maharlika Investment Fund, Regional Specialty Hospitals, “Trabaho Para sa Bayan” Act, Private Partnership Code of the Philippines, Internet Transactions Act, Ease of Paying Taxes Act, “Tatak Pinoy” (Proudly Filipino) Act, New Philippine Passport Act, Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), New Government Procurement Act, Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act, and the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, among others.
