HOUSE leaders on Monday said the chamber is committed to buckle down to work and ensure the swift passage of the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023 that is responsive to the needs of the people.
Following the formal turnover of Malacañang’s proposed National Expenditure Program to Congress, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said the House Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Rules have agreed to work out a system to ensure that the proposed budget is passed on time and ensure the budget process will not be “snagged by unnecessary delays”.
Dalipe, as the chair of the Committee on Rules, has organized three teams composed of deputy majority leaders and assistant majority leaders to ensure the smooth and seamless flow of discussion once the budget is brought to the plenary.
“We have already coordinated with our teams in the committee on rules. We have prepared three teams (composed of Deputy Majority Leaders and Assistant Majority Leaders) and we are ready for the plenary deliberations on the budget. We are also closely coordinating with the committee on appropriations in order to facilitate our members who would want to fully discuss the budget,” Dalipe said in a media briefing.
Dalipe said the House leadership led by Speaker Martin Romualdez is committed to passing the spending measure before the end of October and signed by Marcos before year-end.
“We only have one thing to do and that is to pass this budget, the General Appropriations Bill. If there is any law that is required for us to act on and that is the General Appropriations Bill. We have prepared for this, we have arranged the teams and we will not be remiss in our job to properly scrutinize the budget,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Isidro Ungab assured that Congress, having the power of the purse, would be “diligently” scrutinizing the submitted budget and pass one that will be responsive and dynamic.
“The FY 2023 National Budget is the financial interpretation of the government’s plans and programs for 2023. It covers the President’s vision for our nation, which can be realized with the appropriate and sufficient funding for such government’s plans and programs,” Ungab said.
Ungab noted that the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), composed of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Finance (DOF), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Office of The President, has fully considered the realities besetting the present economic conditions in the submitted 2023 proposed national budget, tagged as Agenda for Prosperity: Economic Transformation Towards Inclusivity and Sustainability.
