It goes without saying that the House already achieved a milestone this 18th Congress for having passed four bills this early.

Today is the last day for budget hearings in the House of Representatives after holding marathon hearings for the past four weeks. With the certification by President Rodrigo Duterte that the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) as urgent, the bill may be taken up on second and third reading on the very same day. Once approved on third and final reading, the GAB will then be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration.

The President’s certification comes as no surprise with how the 2019 budget had its prolonged impasse. The nation lost millions daily until a new budget was passed months into this year. A guarantee to have the budget passed on time in the House was a condition for the Speakership in what turned out to be a very much contested race from May to July 2019.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano introduced innovations unheard of in a very traditional institution. Just by looking at the stacks of paper on the tables of congressmen inside the Session Hall, one would immediately know that the House is comfortable with its old ways, so to speak. With the determination of the House leadership to finish the budget even way ahead of schedule, 4 October to be exact, Speaker Cayetano had his back against the wall to ensure swift approval of the 2020 budget. And he clearly delivered.

Beginning on 22 August, the House held budget briefings in the committee level, where hearings were held simultaneously. Around two to three departments were heard at the same time.

House Appropriations chairman Rep. Isidro Ungab opened the hearing with his remarks, then he left the committee to a team led by a vice chairperson. Thirty minutes later, Ungab shuffles to another hearing to open, which he also left to a vice chairperson to continue. With this setup, budget briefings ended on 6 September.

Budget debates and interpolations on the plenary floor started on 10 September, and the House converted its schedule into a five-day workweek. (Note: Congress has a five-day workweek to leave Fridays as the day for the legislators’ constituents.) Session was moved earlier to 1 p.m. and ended at around 10 p.m. on the average. Departments were asked to gather in a conference prior to their being called to the Session Hall. In this pre-plenary gathering, legislators are encouraged to approach the departments to discuss their parochial or sectoral concerns, so that only policy questions will be raised at the plenary. When the departments are called, they head to the Session Hall and are faced with questions fielded by the minority, particularly the Makabayan Bloc.

P4.1 trillion is a lot of money — and our 300 legislators clearly had a “go” on the 72 government offices, agencies, bureaus, and government-owned and controlled corporations, on how they deserve their budget allocations for 2020. Some departments were kind enough to accept a slight slash on their budgets, while some expectedly asked for more. Legislators were keener on the front-line offices, and those that may bring most benefits to their respective districts or sectors.

Everything went smoothly, with only a few offices whose budgets were not heard as originally scheduled, perhaps deliberately for some reason, such as the Department of Information and Communications Technology, National Security Council and National Intelligence Coordination Agency. In any case, these matters were sorted out immediately in order not to hamper the budget hearings.

Thus, should the budget hearings officially end today, 20 September, with the passage of the GAB on third reading, the House heard the budget for a total of 20 days — 11 days of budget briefings at the committee level; nine days for plenary debates — that must be a record of some sort. Ending today will also free up six session days until Congress goes into recess on 5 October — a rather early recess since legislators have inter-parliamentary duties with the Inter-Parliamentary Union at Belgrade, Serbia in mid-October. This will allow the House to catch up with all the newsworthy hearings being done at the Senate, and to tackle more of the President’s priority bills.

It goes without saying that the House already achieved a milestone this 18th Congress for having passed four bills this early, which includes two of the Finance Department’s tax packages (CITIRA and PIFITA), increase-excise tax on alcohol and tobacco products, and amendment to Foreign Investments Act. Hearings on the creation of the Department of OFW have been underway and the Committee on Ways and Means will take up mining taxes, another priority of the Finance Department. Definitely, more work to be done.