MANILA – The proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018 is set to enter its final stage of deliberation in the House of Representatives (HOR) Monday, September 4, Committee on Appropriations Chairman and Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said Sunday.
Nograles will deliver at 10 a.m. his sponsorship speech for House Bill (HB) No.6215 or the 2018 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) before the plenary, thus signaling the start of the budget debate stage in the 300-member Chamber.
Nograles said they will strive to finish the plenary debates on Friday, September 8, and have HB No.6215 passed on third and final reading. That will give the Senate time to pass on the budget bill as well, before a bicameral conference committee is convened for the final version. It is expected to be signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte on or before November 15.
“Passing the national budget before the end of the year is a tradition that Congress intends to keep under the Duterte administration,” the Appropriations panel chairman said.
“Although there is much exigency in passing the GAB this year because of the impending switch to federalism and other matters, we assure the public that we legislators exercised and will exercise the power of the purse to its fullest, as it is our mandate,” added Nograles.
He said two layers of budget discussions were carried out for the whole month of August: first, the exhaustive deliberations with the various agencies at the Committee level and second, the pre-plenary talks between the congressmen and the same agencies.
During budget deliberations, Nograles used the opportunity to identify possible sources of funds for the newly-signed Republic Act (RA) 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
He identified P37.5 billion as stand-by funds for the program, which will be rolled out next year and an initial seed money of P16 billion sourced from the scholarship funds of various government agencies.
Among the agencies lined up for plenary defense Monday are the proposed budgets of the:
• Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which will be defended by Nograles;
• Department of Finance (DOF), by Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte;
• National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), by Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda;
• Department of Tourism (DOT), by Rizal 1st district Rep. Michael John Duavit and
• Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), by Isabela 2nd district Rep. Ana Cristina Go.
Villafuerte, Salceda, Duavit and Go are all vice chairmen of the Appropriations Committee.