DELIBERATIONS on the proposed P6.3 trillion national budget is set to start in the Senate by mid-August, Senate President Francis Escudero yesterday said.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to Congress last Monday.
“Inaasahan namin na magsisimula ang DBCC debates, hopefully sa August 13 (We expect to start with the DBCC [Development Budget Coordinating Committee] debates hopefully on August 13,” Escudero told Senate reporters when asked when senators would start discussing the government’s spending plan.
Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, said the DBCC briefing will be held on August 13 and 14, while committee hearings will run from August 15 to October 18.
Poe said the committee is aiming to submit and approve its budget report by the first week of December.
“The money we will allocate comes from the hard work and tax contributions of our countrymen. We need to ensure that we are responsive to the needs of our people, handle the budget equitably, especially given our limited fiscal space, and with full transparency,” Poe said.
Escudero said no specific agency will be given priority for budget allocations, adding that government offices will have to make do with what’s available in the national coffers.
The Senate leader said senators would spend extra time scrutinizing the government’s flood control and mitigation projects following the massive floodings that paralyzed Metro Manila and nearby provinces at the height of the onslaught of typhoon “Carina.”
“Maliban doon sa hearing ni Sen. (Bong) Revilla, siyempre titignan ulit yun at titiyakin kung may master plan nga ba yan, may basehan nga ba yan. Baka naman nanghuhula pa rin tayo ng rason kung bakit nagbabaha pa rin (Aside from Sen. Revilla’s scheduled hearing [on Thursday], of course that [flood control projects] will be looked into again, and we will make sure that [the government] really has a master plan, or if they are just guessing why floodings keep on affecting us),” he said.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives welcomed Malacañang’s lower allocation for the controversial confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) under the proposed 2025 national budget, saying it will allow the House to fund more social welfare programs.
“It means that it gives us more elbow room to provide those funds for other purposes like job creation and other aid programs such as AICS and TUPAD,” Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe told a press conference.
AICS is the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis under the Department of Social Welfare and Development, while TUPAD is Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program under the Department of Labor of Employment.
Under the NEP, the Palace’s CIF request for next year is down by 16 percent.
From P12 billion this year, the proposed budget for CIF of all departments and agencies has gone down to P10.2 billion for 2025.
The reduction in the amount of CIF that the Executive is asking from Congress came after Vice President Sara Duterte drew heavy flak during last year’s budget deliberations over her office’s P500 million confidential funds request and the P150 million sought by the Department of Education (DepEd), which she headed until earlier this month.
Dalipe also expressed confidence that the House will be able to approve the 2025 budget before the October recess, as promised by Speaker Martin Romualdez.
“Every budget process is very challenging. As much as possible, we want to work on deadline and transmit it before the October break,” Dalipe said. “Our counterparts in the Senate also have to work on it, so we are aiming to approve the House General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on third reading by the third or fourth week of September. “
Congress will be on recess from September 28 to November 3.
Dalipe said the efficient work being done by the chair and the different vice chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations, along with the active participation of the minority in the budget deliberations, “gives us confidence that we can meet this deadline.”
At the same time, Dalipe said there will be no let-up in the ongoing investigations into the drug war of the Duterte administration and the social ills caused by the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) even while the House is busy with the annual budget hearings.
