The House of Representatives approved late Wednesday the ratified version of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), containing the  P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025, just hours after it hurdled the bicameral committee.

Members of the bicam panel, comprised of House members and senators, convened earlier in the day to iron out the disagreeing provisions of their respective GABs.

This included the controversial budget cut of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the elimination of the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita (AKAP) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which had been a subject of debate among legislators.

The Senate had earlier adopted the House's version of a P1.3 billion slash in the budget of Vice President Sara Duterte's office, leaving it only with P733.198 million from its initial request of P2.03 billion. 

Some senators, including the President's sister, Imee Marcos, a staunch ally of the VP, had disclosed that they attempted to restore the OVP's funding but their efforts were unsuccessful.

The upper chamber also deleted the House-initiated AKAP in its version of the GAB, designed to assist the “near poor,” including minimum wage employees earning P21,000 and below per month who are vulnerable to economic shocks such as job loss or runaway inflation.

However, during the bicam meeting, these two provisions were retained, though AKAP's funding only allotted P26 billion, significantly lower than the original proposal of P39 billion.

Nevertheless, Speaker Martin Romualdez thanked their counterparts in the Senate for maintaining AKAP, which Senator Marcos had alleged was being exploited by congressmen for their signature drive on "fake" people’s initiative to carry on with the Charter change she strongly opposed.

"We thank our fellow congressmen and the Senate for supporting AKAP...Let's help our countrymen in the hardship of inflation and high prices," Romualdez told reporters.

The Senate must also ratify the bicameral report, after which the GAB will be transmitted to the Malacañang for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s signature.

The P6.352 trillion proposed national budget next year, which is 10.1 percent higher than this year's P5.768 trillion, is poised to be the highest budget ever approved by Congress.