From The Manila Times -
SENATE President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri said Tuesday that the chamber will start on Wednesday its marathon plenary deliberations on the proposed P5.768-trillion spending plan for 2024.
To ensure the passage of the budget measure before the Christmas break, senators will have morning and afternoon sessions, and put the Senate version of the bill to a vote on November 27, to be followed by a bicameral conference meeting to reconcile the differing versions of both chambers of Congress.
Zubiri said Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, will sponsor the proposed General Appropriations Bill on Wednesday.
In a simple ceremony, the House of Representatives on Saturday transmitted to the Senate its version of the proposed 2024 national budget or House Bill (HB) 8980.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the House of Representatives "remained steadfast to its commitment to a timely, transparent budgeting, free from the shadows of pork barrel," which has already been outlawed by the Supreme Court.
Under HB 8980, health, education, culture and manpower development, social security, welfare and employment will get P2.183 trillion, or 37.9 percent of the total budget.
Zubiri received the official copy of HB 8980 at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on behalf of the Senate and pledged to pass the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) before the end of the year.
If Congress fails to have the 2024 GAA enacted (signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) before December 31, the government will have to operate under the 2023 GAA, which will automatically be reenacted.
Zubiri said the Senate should be able to complete budget deliberations in the next four or five weeks. "Our commitment is that we will pass it on time. We will finish deliberations by the first week of December.
"I believe it will be ready for the President's signature by the second week of December at the latest," he added.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel 3rd asked the majority bloc to provide the two-member minority bloc ample time to scrutinize the proposed national spending plan for next year.
Pimentel said the senators will be deprived of quality scrutiny of the proposed budget if they rush to pass it. Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros is the other member of the minority bloc.
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