WITH 18 affirmative votes, zero negative, and one abstention, the Senate on Tuesday afternoon approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 10800, or the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) that contains the P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025.
The Senate adopted the P733 million budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) recommended by the House of Representatives and deleted the allocation for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).
Sen. Grace Poe, Finance Committee chair, told reporters in a Viber message that the final allocation for the OVP and the fate of the AKAP “will be determined during the bicam.”
“For now, OVP is at GAB (General Appropriations Bill) level, while AKAP is restored to the NEP (National Expenditure Program) level. We need to consult our House counterparts on these items,” Poe said.
The House of Representatives slashed the P2.01 billion budget request for the OVP by P1.3 billion and realigned the funds to the DSWD and the Department of Health (DOH) after Vice President Sara Duterte refused to participate in the committee and plenary deliberations at the lower chamber.
The DSWD’s AKAP was allotted P39.8 billion under the House’s version of the government spending plan for next year, but the Senate deleted it, saying it was just an insertion of the lower house.
The Senate version of the 2025 national budget was contained under Committee Report No. 335 which Poe sponsored yesterday.
The GAB has been certified as urgent by President Marcos Jr.
Duterte has earlier said she would let Congress decide on the appropriate budget for her office.
Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go, and Joel Villanueva have earlier manifested they would propose to augment the OVP’s budget.
On the other hand, the House leadership and the DSWD have appealed to the Senate to reconsider its decision to defund the AKAP, saying this would affect more than four million “near poor” Filipinos, or those who are earning less than the daily minimum wage who are benefiting from the program.
Sen. Imee Marcos, who defended the DSWD budget during the plenary deliberations, has proposed the consolidation of the AKAP and the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS).
Poe said there were significant increases in the proposed budgets of a number of agencies, including in health and education sectors, and for livelihood programs.
Neither the Committee on Finance nor Poe’s office have yet to furnish reporters a copy of the committee report as of this printing.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III abstained from voting on the budget measure, insisting that there was nothing urgent that merits its immediate passage.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said although she voted in favor of the bill’s passage, she still has reservations about the NEP.
“I voiced my concerns about the transfer of key priority programs to unprogrammed appropriations,” she said.
Hontiveros said she also raised her concerns on the ballooning national government debts compared to what the government is earning.
Despite of it all, she said she was thankful that the Senate carried her proposed increase in the budgets for the social protection programs of the DSWD, DOH, Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Agriculture.
“For these reasons and so much more, Mr. President, we support the passage of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill,” she added.
