House on track to pass 2025 budget on final reading this Wednesday

The House of Representatives is on course to approve the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for fiscal year 2025 on third and final reading on Wednesday, September 25, according to Speaker Martin Romualdez on Sunday.

Romualdez said the House aims to meet its deadline for the approval of the plenary deliberations, which started last Monday, September 16, “because we are treating the national spending program with urgency without sacrificing transparency.”

He also said the House’s approval of the 2025 budget before Congress goes on recess next weekend would give the Senate enough time for its own debate-passage process.

“We have sufficient time to finally agree on the budget before yearend. It is the most important piece of legislation Congress passes every year,” he said in a statement.

So far, the House has already approved the proposed funding of agencies that include the Department of Finance, Department of Justice, National Economic and Development Authority, the judiciary, Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Human Rights, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Tourism, and Department of Labor and Employment.

Also finished with the plenary were the Commission on Elections, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of National Defense, Department of Migrant Workers, Presidential Communications Office, Department of Science and Technology, Metro Manila Development Authority, state colleges and universities, and government corporations.

Meanwhile, the proposed budget of the following agencies is set to be deliberated in the plenary from Monday to Wednesday:

Office of the President, Office of the Vice President, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Administration, Department of Health, Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, Civil Service Commission, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Commission on Audit, Department of Transportation, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Congress, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Education, and several executive offices.

Before approving the budget on Wednesday, the House will hear turno en contra or remarks against the spending proposal, followed by the period of amendments.

The House, as in previous years, is also expected to create a small committee in charge of the proposals to consolidate amendment suggestions.

“Next year’s spending legislation will serve as our tool for sustained economic development. It will support the Agenda for Prosperity programs of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr.,” Romualdez said.

He also said that the 2025 budget would also “serve as an instrument for the government to spread the dividends of economic progress through various social protection and financial assistance initiatives, and funding for infrastructures like roads, hospitals, classrooms, seaports and airports, irrigation systems, and transportation networks.”

The House leader is expected to address his colleagues before the first recess of the third and last regular session of the 19th Congress starts next weekend.—Giselle Ombay/RF, GMA Integrated News