Barring last-minute hitches, the House of Representatives will approve on third and final reading the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 national budget within the next two weeks on September 25.
This is according to Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations chaired by Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Zaldy Co.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez earlier committed that the House would finally approve the budget before the third and last regular session of Congress goes on its first recess on September 27.
He said the proposed outlay would support the Agenda for Prosperity and Bagong Pilipinas programs of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Quimbo told reporters that plenary debates on the proposed budget will start on Monday, with the discussions focusing on general principles used in putting together the 2025 spending program.
She said the House would hold marathon sessions starting at 10 in the morning.
“We are confident that it will end on September 25 and yes marathon. Every day we will start [at 10 AM] until we finish the scheduled agencies for that day,” Quimbo said.
“What we can expect would be debates, but this time the agencies themselves will not speak. So, the only ones who can really speak would be the congressman and congresswomen (sponsoring the agency budget). So, it is going to be a debate between members of the House,” she explained.
The Marikina lawmaker added that agency officials could help the lawmaker defend their requested funding by giving them needed information.
Quimbo made the statements after she revealed the decision of the committee on appropriations to reduce the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) by P1.3 billion, from P2.03 billion to P733 million.
Quimbo: House to pass 2025 budget on third reading by September 25
