House bares P77-B budget revisions
The bicam panel faces a daunting task in combining the two versions of the GAB, as the Senate made amendments totaling P215 billion for programmed allocations
The leadership of the House of Representatives bared amendments that will be worth P77 billion in the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023.
The Bicameral Conference Committee, composed of the Senate and the House members, convened on Friday at the Manila Golf Club in Makati City to harmonize the disagreeing provisions of House Bill 4488 or 2023 General Appropriations Bill provisions.
The bicam panel faces a daunting task in combining the two versions of the GAB, as the Senate made amendments totaling P215 billion for programmed allocations, while the House only moved around P77 billion. There are 14 House members on the bicameral panel.
The Senate’s P215 billion adjustments may or may not include the House’s P77 billion changes, with the bicameral conference committee working to resolve these issues.
Despite the divergent realignments, the House sees a silver lining in the Senate’s agreement to the P77 billion institutional amendments, which will supplement the budget for education, health, transportation, and other critical social services.
People-oriented budget
“We are confident that the Senate and the House bicam members will see eye-to-eye on this. Our objectives are the same: to pass a people’s budget that reflects President Marcos Jr.’s 8-point economic agenda that will help the country bounce back from the pandemic,” Speaker Martin Romualdez said Sunday.
“We really feel that these institutional amendments will redound to the benefit of the people.”
Appropriations committee chairperson Elizaldy Co of the Ako Bikol Partylist, also a member of the bicam panel, echoed the Speaker’s remarks, saying the P77 billion institutional amendments prioritized the welfare of the people.
“Our amendments can speak for themselves. You can see that is indeed pro-people and pro-development as we prioritized health, education and transportation.
We are confident that if the Senate and the House approve these amendments, we can recover well from the pandemic in 2023,” Co said.
The institutional amendments, carefully crafted by the House, are “ayuda” programs that will directly benefit the people. This includes P12.5 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is divided into AICS (P5 billion), pension upgrades for senior citizens through the National Commission of Senior Citizens (P5 billion), and the Sustainable Livelihood Program (P2.5 billion). Likewise included are the Department of Transportation’s P5.5 billion for programs addressing rising fuel costs, such as the fuel subsidy program (P2.5 billion), Libreng Sakay (P2 billion), and bike lane construction (P1 billion), as well as the Department of Labor and Employment’s P5 billion for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/ Displaced Workers program (P3 billion), and livelihood (P2 billion).