House to pass budget bill this week

THE House of Representatives is determined to approve the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2025 on third and final reading on Wednesday before it goes on a break. The proposed national budget for next year is P6.352 trillion. On Sunday, Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House was "treating the national spending program with urgency without sacrificing transparency." Approving the bill before the recess would give the Senate enough time to scrutinize the budget, Romualdez said. "We have sufficient time to finally agree on the budget before yearend. It is the most important piece of legislation Congress passes every year," he said. "Next year's spending legislation will serve as our tool for sustained economic development. It will support the Agenda for Prosperity programs" of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he said. The budget, Romualdez said, would also "serve as an instrument for the government to spread the dividends of economic progress through various social protection and financial assistance initiatives, and funding for infrastructures like roads, hospitals, classrooms, seaports and airports, irrigation systems, and transportation networks." The budget bill reached the plenary level after the House Committee on Appropriations finished its meetings with government offices. House Majority Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose "Mannix" Dalipe, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, said the President was expected to certify the budget measure as urgent. Dalipe said such a certification would allow the House to approve the measure on second and third and final readings the same day. The House plenary debates on the budget, which started on September 16, will continue today, September 23.