Budgets of key agencies breeze through House

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed budget for 2025 of eight agencies, including three independent constitutional bodies, breezed through plenary scrutiny of the House of Representatives, which is holding final deliberations on the P6.352-trillion national budget.

Budget hearings for the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Justice (DOJ), National Economic and Development Authority as well as the judiciary, Ombudsman and Commission on Human Rights have been terminated by the lower legislative chamber.

Deliberations for the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) headed by Secretary Jerry Acuzar, sponsored on the floor by Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, was also approved late afternoon yesterday.

Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing, sponsor of the DOF budget, even pushed for an increase in the budget of its attached agencies, among them the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Local Government Finance and the Philippine Tax Academy.

Suansing said the budget of the BIR “will sustain its consistent performance in expanding tax revenue collections through enforcement activities against individuals, businesses and large corporations involved in illicit trading activities.”

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong supported the proposed budget increase for the BOC, stating that the agency safeguards the country’s borders and in generating much-needed revenue for the government.

“The BOC is not only an agency tasked (with) regulating imports and exports, but it is one of the government’s agents for wealth creation, and its performance has a direct and measurable impact on our national coffers, and I believe it is only fitting that we provide it with the necessary resources to continue its outstanding results,” Adiong said.

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon, budget sponsor of the DOJ, endorsed the P37.758-billion budget of the agency under Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, which shall include other attached agencies as well, like the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration, for fiscal year 2025.

“The DOJ’s budget, which is 4.22 percent higher than its budget for this year, will be used to support the department and its attached agencies’ programs, projects and operations for the effective, efficient and equitable administration of justice,” Bongalon said.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, meanwhile, expressed satisfaction with the P63.57-billion budget of the judiciary and will even support its increase, as he moved to terminate the period of interpellation and debate, to which the majority coalition readily agreed.

General Santos Rep. Loreto Acharon sponsored the judiciary’s budget on the plenary floor.

The judiciary originally proposed a budget of P84.39 billion for 2025, but the DBM recommended a much lower allocation, which was placed at P63.57 billion only.

Earlier, Court Administrator Raul Villanueva said of the proposed budget, P54.78 billion would be allotted for the Supreme Court and the lower courts; P171.71 million for the Presidential Electoral Tribunal; P5.2 billion for the Court of Appeals; P2.37 billion for the Sandiganbayan, and P1.019 billion for the Court of Tax Appeals.

Villanueva also said judiciary’s share of the 2025 proposed national budget of P6.352 trillion is 1.002 percent.

DHSUD appeals for more budget

Saying there is a backlog of more than one million in housing units, the DHSUD has appealed to Congress to increase its budget for 2025.

The DSHUD said in yesterday’s plenary deliberations in the House, as of July, 31 2024, there are 1.21 million housing units “in the pipeline.” Of this, around 162,381 units are under construction.

Tiangco gave assurance that the agency has been exploring another pathway of implementation “to further accelerate the housing production,” referring to the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) program which was recently approved by President Marcos.

The approved sovereign guarantees would be used for the developmental loans of the National Housing Authority and Social Housing Financing Corp. to expedite the construction of housing projects under the 4PH and address backlogs in residential units.

The sovereign guarantee pertains to the assurance of a government to investors, assuring that debt repayment will be fulfilled without fail.

According to Tiangco, the national government’s annual average housing production from 2016 to 2022 is only 44,000 housing units, limited mainly by budget allocation under the General Appropriations Act.

He noted that the DSHUD has been receiving an average of 0.3 percent of the national budget for the past nine years.

Tiangco added if the same trend in budget allocation continues, “the gap between the housing need and actual production will continuously increase, unless the honorable body intervenes.”

“This is a crucial moment in our efforts to ensure that every Filipino has access to decent, affordable and sustainable housing, which is a fundamental right and a vital aspect of national development,” he maintained. — Sheila Crisostomo