House begins budget deliberations

The House of Representatives kicked off the plenary deliberations on the bill providing for the proposed P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020 early Tuesday to make way for the marathon debates on House Bill 4228, or the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

House Committee on Appropriations chair Isidro Ungab principally sponsored the 2020 GAB, whose committee report his panel approved only a day earlier and in his speech, he said the 2020 GAB is a “faithful replica” of the 2020 National Expenditure Program earlier approved by President Rodrigo Duterte and the Cabinet.

“We are aware that the General Appropriations Bill is a legislative measure so crucial that no other matter is considered in detail other than how the income and revenues collected must be returned to the people through the national budget,” said Ungab.

“For that is what appropriations is all about: the flowing back of the revenues to our constituents in order to genuinely and effectively address poverty and inequality,” he added.

The proposed 2020 national budget has priority programs that include infrastructure development and the implementation of new and critical government programs and policies such as the Universal Health Care Act, the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Rice Tariffication Act, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programs Act and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Act.

It also prioritizes the K-12 program, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program, the Risk Resiliency Program and the Coastal Resource Management Program.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said that the chamber will hold its session from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. every day and will try to deliberate the budget of at least two major government agencies each day, adding that it will limit the questions on the floor to those only related to the budget.

The House is aiming to finish the budget plenary deliberations on September 20 and approve the 2020 GAB on final reading by 4 October — before Congress goes on a month-long break.