THE House of Representatives on Thursday submitted to the Senate House Bill 10800, or the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), containing the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025.
The House approved the proposed budget on third and final reading last September 25.
The bill was approved on second and third reading the same day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared it urgent.
In his letter to Senate President Francis Escudero and Speaker Martin Romualdez, Marcos urged lawmakers to fast-track the passage of the GAB “to ensure the uninterrupted operation of critical government functions, guarantee allocation of fiscal resources for vital initiatives, and enable the government to respond to emerging challenges adeptly.”
The proposed budget amounts to 22 percent of the country’s GDP, a 10.1-percent increase from this year’s P5.768 trillion.
Escudero said the Senate was just waiting for the approved version of the GAB.
“The Senate committee hearings are on schedule, and we expect it to be approved with enough time for the President to read and review the line items he can make in the proposed budget to be complete. This will become law before the end of the year,” Escudero said in Filipino.
He added that the Senate is considering sponsoring its own version of the budget bill on November 5 or 6.
“Maybe we can start the interpellations on the general principles on November 5 or 6, and the plenary debates will continue the following week,” he said.
Escudero said he expects the Senate version of the budget bill to be approved in two weeks after its sponsorship, since it will continue the tradition of conducting plenary debates into the night and early morning.
He also expects the bicameral conference committee deliberations to take two weeks.
“Before we adjourn, it must be sent to Malacañang because we are no longer in session. So we expect the budget to be approved at the latest second week of December, at the earliest first week of December,” he said. JAVIER JOE ISMAEL
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