Proposed 2024 budget reaches House plenary

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed P5.678-trillion budget for next year has been submitted for plenary debates, which begin on Tuesday.

The House committee on appropriations, chaired by AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, approved House Bill 8980 or the 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) last week.

Committee senior vice chair and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the chamber is “overall … on target” in its deliberation on HB 8980.

“We started (the committee hearings) Aug. 10 and by God’s grace, we are on time. Plenary debates will start Sept. 19 and hopefully we can finish it on Sept. 27. We want to finish on time,” she said.

Quimbo refused to divulge which departments would have cuts or increases in their proposed appropriations for 2024.

“Baka magtampo ang mga ahensya (Some agencies might be offended) and, at the same time, there will be plenary debates so let’s not touch on that at this point in time,” she added.

She emphasized there were no substantial changes in the proposed funding. She also stressed that the committee had thoroughly examined the budget proposals for each government agency.

For the first time, she said the panel allowed “five rounds” of interpellation during the deliberation on the budget of the Department of Transportation, which lasted for almost 12 hours.