With 18 votes in favor, zero against, and one abstention, the Senate approved House Bill No. 10800, the 2025 General Appropriations Bill, on its third and final reading Tuesday. The bill outlines the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The senators unanimously approved next year’s proposed national budget shortly after they approved it on second reading.

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito made the motion to approve the measure on third and final reading, citing the letter of certification issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Ejercito was referring to President Marcos’ letter addressed to Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero which underscored the “necessity of the immediate enactment” of the General Appropriations Act.

He noted that this was to “ensure the uninterrupted operation of critical government functions, guarantee the allocation of fiscal resources for vital initiatives, and enable the government to adeptly respond to emerging challenges.”

The letter, dated 29 October but released to the media only last week, was also sent to the office of House Speaker Ferdinand Romualdez and Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza.

A certification from the President means the Senate has the power to approve the bill on second and third reading without the required gap of three days between the readings.

Only Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III abstained from voting, citing his consistent stand against the President’s power to certify a bill as urgent.

“Mr. President, my dear colleagues, I abstained from voting on the 2025 General Appropriations Act or Bill for the second and third readings, respectively, because learning from last year’s experience, I have adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude which I believe is the more prudent approach,” Pimentel said in his manifestation.

“Of course, this is in addition to my continuing objection to a very unnecessary presidential certification for a bill which we process every year on a specified period of the year,” he added.

OVP budget

Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance who sponsored the 2025 GAA, said the chamber retained the P733 million proposed budget for the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

The 2025 GAB version approved by the House of Representatives included the reduced budget allocation for the office of Vice President Sara Duterte amounting to P733 million, far from its original proposed budget of P2.037 billion.

Meanwhile, Poe noted that the chamber retained the defunding of the proposed allocation for the controversial Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, or AKAP, of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“The budgets of the OVP and AKAP will be determined during the bicameral conference. For now, the OVP is at the GAB level, while AKAP is restored to the NEP level,” she told reporters in an ambush interview.

She continued: “We need to consult our House counterparts on these items.”

2025 GAB approved by the House of Representatives, AKAP’s proposed allocation was increased more than threefold from P13 million in 2024 to P39.8 billion.

Senators earlier criticized the budget allocation for the DSWD’s AKAP, stressing that it was part of the “last minute insertions” of their counterparts during last year’s bicam.

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives contingents are set to meet for the bicam from 28 to 30 November.

The 2025 GAA was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives on 25 September, just one day after President Marcos certified the measure as urgent.