House sees Senate support for budget amendments

HOUSE Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez is confident that the Senate bicameral conference panel contingent will support the P77-billion institutional amendments by the House of Representatives on the proposed P5.268 trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2023.

The amount will be used to augment the budget for education, health, transportation and other critical social services, Romualdez said in a statement.

“We really feel that these institutional amendments will redound to the benefit of the people. We will never go wrong if the welfare of our countrymen is at stake,” he said.

He expressed confidence that the Senate and the House bicam members will see eye-to-eye because their objectives are the same — “to pass a people’s budget that reflects President [Ferdinand] Marcos Jr. ‘s eightpoint economic agenda that will help the country bounce back from the pandemic.”

House Appropriations Committee chairman and Ako Bikol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co echoed Romualdez’s statements, saying the House amendments are propeople and pro-development.

“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 House institutional amendments are aid programs that will directly benefit the people, such as P12.5 billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development, broken down into Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations, P5 billion; upgrade of senior citizens’ pension through the National Commission of Senior Citizens, P5 billion and Sustainable Livelihood Program, P2.5 billion.

Co also cited the Department of Transportation’s P5.5billion to address rising costs, like the fuel subsidy program P2.5 billion; Libreng Sakay (Free Ride), P2 billion; and bike lane construction, P1 billion; and the Department of Labor and Employment’s P5 billion for the emergency employment assistance program “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers, P3 billion; and livelihood programs, P2 billion.

“What we did was allocate more budget to pro-people programs without the need to sacrifice our national programs and projects for job creation. We are confident that there will be no contentions with our amendments here,” Co said.

The other institutional amendments include the P20.2 billion for various programs of the Department of Health such as support for specialty hospitals and Cancer Assistance Program; P10 billion for the Department of Education’s school and classroom construction and special education programs; P5 billion for the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority’s training and scholarship programs; P5 billion for the Commission on Higher Education’s financial assistance program for qualified and deserving students; P10 billion for the Department of Public Works and Highways’ construction of water systems in underserved upland villages; P1.5 billion for the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s national broadband project; P500 million for the Commission on Elections new building; P300 million for the Philippine National Police; P250 million for the Department of Trade and Industry to assist the creative industry pursuant to Republic Act 11904; P150 million for the Energy Regulatory Commission; P147 million for the Office of the Solicitor General; and P50 million for the National Electrification Administration’s village and sub-village electrification program.