Senate to approve budget in November – Zubiri

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate will hold marathon plenary deliberations on the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 with the aim of getting the money measure approved as early as the third week of November, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday.

Zubiri made the announcement as the Senate finance committee, chaired by Sen. Sonny Angara, wrapped up last week its discussions on the Marcos administration’s first National Expenditure Program (NEP), which is what the proposed budget is officially called before it passes through Congress.

He thanked his colleagues for holding the budget hearings through their respective sub-committees, “and for keeping us on track with our budget timeline.”

“With everyone keeping the same work ethic and urgency to the plenary, we expect to spend about two weeks in marathon plenary deliberations and we will hopefully be able to approve the budget as early as the third week of November,” Zubiri said.

“Over the course of the hearings, our sub-committees carefully combed over our agencies’ programs and spending vis-à-vis the proposed P5.268-trillion budget, to ensure that the 4.9 percent increase from this year’s budget is warranted and is crucial to the country’s continued recovery from the pandemic,” he said.

However, he said the committee endorsement of the proposed spending program is only “halfway up the hill” as there remains a lot more work to be done in plenary.

The Senate and House of Representatives will resume session on Nov. 7.

The House approved its version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) before going on a break early this month while the Senate will start deliberating on the GAB when session resumes.

Once the Senate passes its version of the GAB, the two chambers will convene the bicameral conference committee to reconcile conflicting provisions of their respective versions of the bill.

Congressional leaders earlier said the two chambers aim to approve a final and reconciled version in early December.