House may approve 2020 budget bill on 2nd, 3rd reading on Friday —Ungab

The House of Representatives may approve on second and third reading the bill providing for the proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 on Friday, way ahead of their October 4 target, after President Rodrigo Duterte certified it as urgent.

According to House Committee on Appropriations chair Isidro Ungab, who sponsored House Bill 4228 or the 2020 General Appropriations Bill in the plenary, the passage of the budget bill on time is vital in helping to boost the country's economy.

With the President certifying the bill as urgent, Ungab on Thursday said the proposed budget for next year may be passed "on the same day without waiting for separate days to have it approved on second and third readings."

"Thus, it is possible that the GAB will be passed this Friday, since it was already certified as urgent," he told GMA News Online.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives received the certification of urgency of House Bill 4228 from the President.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte certified the budget bill as urgent as he does not want a repeat of what happened in the 2019 General Appropriations Act, whose passage was delayed for a few months resulting in the slowing down of the country's economic growth early this year.

House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the 2020 budget will reflect not only Duterte's vision for the country but also the will of the people.

"As envisioned by the President, the 2020 national budget seeks to move the nation forward towards its aspired-for destination: a more peaceful and progressive Philippines," Romualdez said in a statement.

"We, in Congress, support the initiatives of the Duterte administration to empower the poor through increased subsidies and grants aimed at ending the inter-generational cycle of poverty in the country." —KBK, GMA News