THE House of Representatives is set to receive tomorrow (Monday) the proposed 2023 national budget, which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier revealed would amount to P5.268 trillion.
The proposal would be the first full one-year outlay of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The President will submit the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the executive department’s version of the national budget, through Budget Sec. Amenah Pangandaman.
On hand to receive it will be Speaker Martin G. Romualdez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, House Committee on Appropriations chairman and Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co and his senior vice chairperson, Marikina City Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo.
The turnover ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at the social hall of the Speaker’s Office.
Under the Constitution, the President “shall submit to the Congress within 30 days from the opening of every regular session, as the basis of the general appropriations bill (GAB), a budget of expenditures and
sources of financing, including receipts from existing and proposed revenue measures.”
Part of the President’s submissions is his budget message to lawmakers and the nation.
The budget and its accompanying documents are submitted to the larger chamber of Congress because the Constitution provides that “all appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing increase of
the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments.”
However, the Palace has traditionally been furnishing the Senate copies of its budget submissions on the day that it presents them to the House.
The proposed budget for next year is P244 billion or almost five percent more than this year’s P5.024-trillion outlay. It will be the highest ever spending proposal of the government.
House leaders have vowed to finish committee and plenary deliberations on the budget proposal before October 1, when Congress is scheduled to go on its first recess that will last up to November 6.
“Last Congress, we did it, we were able to beat the September 30 deadline. We gave all members of the House time to deliberate, interpellate intelligently on all departments,” Dalipe told a news
forum on Tuesday.
“The budget process starts here and we want to give all House members time to scrutinize the proposed budget. I can confidently say that we can make the September 30 deadline,” he said.
The appropriations committee will begin hearings on the NEP on August 26 with a briefing by the Marcos administration’s economic managers on the macro-economic parameters used in putting the spending proposal together.
Quimbo, senior vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the committee aims to finish its hearings by September 16, which is a Friday, to give the House two weeks for plenary deliberations and third and final reading approval before the October 1 recess.
She said the committee chaired by Co is committed to the swift approval of the proposed “economic recovery budget.”
“Rest assured that Congress shall work tirelessly to approve a budget that is responsive to the needs of the people and is able to bring inclusive and sustainable growth,” Quimbo, an economist, said.
