House forms panel for budget amendments

MANILA, Philippines — After passing the 2025 national budget on time, the House of Representatives on Wednesday formed a four-member team to discuss lawmakers’ proposed budget amendments.

Individual amendments to the General Appropriations Bill of 2025, or House Bill 10800, will be resolved by a “small committee” composed of House appropriations panel chair Rep. Zaldy Co and senior vice chair Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, along with House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe and House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan.

By submitting individual amendments, congressmen may lobby for projects in their districts or related to their advocacies. They will download a portion of their “hard” or “soft” projects, which means local infrastructure or scholarships and medicines.

Now that the House has sent HB 10800 to the Senate and its “eventual approval not far behind,” Speaker Martin Romualdez said the “government is more than ready to finance and implement its future initiatives and flagship projects.”

At the same plenary deliberations on Wednesday evening, congressmen and journalists were surprised when Rep. Wilbert Lee  –  who is reportedly eyeing a Senate seat in the 2025 polls – grabbed Rep. Paul Daza’s mic.

Lee reportedly attempted to block the termination of deliberations on the Department of Health’s proposed 2025 budget.

House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin immediately moved to terminate the proceedings. Presiding officer Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco banged the gavel.

Lee then joined the majority in approving HB 10800, voting 285-3.

He said he was glad that the state health insurer’s spending capacity in 2025 will get a boost by increasing its benefit payments to as much as P250 billion, among others.

The cost of adult prescription eyeglasses, crutches and wheelchairs, he said, will be shouldered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Benefits also include “diagnostic tests such as PET Scan, MRI and CT Scan.”