House opens marathon budget debates

The House of Representatives will open today extensive floor debates on the proposed P6.352 trillion budget for the Marcos administration for fiscal year 2025, with the goal of passing the corresponding bill by 25 September.

The House will hold eight marathon session days, beginning at 10 a.m. daily, to address all agencies scheduled for discussion. This follows the House’s long-standing practice of approving the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which forms the basis for the General Appropriations Act (GAA), before Congress goes into a month-long recess at the end of September.

The swift approval of the GAB is aimed at preventing a reenacted budget, where the previous year’s GAA would remain in effect until the current GAB is passed by both houses of Congress.

Next year’s budget allocation is 10.1 percent higher than this year’s P5.768 trillion and represents 22.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. It is set to be the largest national budget ever approved by Congress.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez said the budget will support the Marcos administration’s “Agenda for Prosperity” and other initiatives, including the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair, a flagship program aimed at providing economically disadvantaged Filipinos with easier access to government services.

“It will be our tool for sustaining our country’s economic growth, which we hope to keep at six percent or higher in line with the forecasts of international lending institutions,” Romualdez said.

Social protection

He added that the budget will also focus on social protection, financial aid, medical programs and keeping food prices down, particularly rice, which has fallen to P42 per kilo.

The education sector, including the Department of Education — the largest bureaucracy — will receive the largest share, with P977.6 billion, or 15.4 percent of the National Expenditure Program submitted to Congress.

The Department of Public Works and Highways follows with P900 billion, though this is lower than this year’s P997.9 billion allocation.

The health sector, including the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, is slated to receive P297.6 billion, while the Department of the Interior and Local Government is allocated P278.4 billion.

Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said plenary deliberations would focus solely on discussions between House members and their peers sponsoring the agency budgets. Agency officials can assist sponsors by providing necessary information to defend their requested funding, she said.

Monday’s deliberations will begin with a sponsorship speech by Appropriations Committee chair Elizaldy Co, followed by debates on general principles and the budgets of the Department of Finance, Department of Justice, National Economic and Development Authority and their attached agencies, as well as the judiciary and lump-sum allocations.

On Tuesday, the discussions will cover the Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Human Rights (including the Human Rights Violations’ Memorial Commission), the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Tourism and the Department of Labor and Employment, along with their attached agencies.