House eyes approval of P6.35 trillion 2025 budget this week

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is expected to approve the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025 on Wednesday or before Congress goes on break on Friday.

Administration and opposition lawmakers are expected to approve on third and final reading House Bill 10800 or the General Appropriations Bill for 2025 on Sept. 25 after two weeks of plenary debates.

Over the weekend, Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House is adhering to its plenary approval timeline “because we are treating the national spending program with urgency without sacrificing transparency.”

“We have sufficient time to finally agree on the budget before yearend. It is the most important piece of legislation Congress passes every year,” Romualdez said, adding this would give the Senate enough time for its own debate-passage process.

The first order of business for today is the reduced P733-million budget of Vice President Sara Duterte, who had antagonized congressmen after she refused to answer questions on her previous confidential funds. Her original budget proposal was P2 billion.

Duterte also refused to take her oath before the House committee on good government investigating the expenditures of the OVP from 2022 onwards, flagged by the Commission on Audit for questionable disbursements amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos.

“Next year’s spending legislation will serve as our tool for sustained economic development. It will support the Agenda for Prosperity programs of President Ferdinand Marcos,” the Speaker said yesterday.

In a statement, Romualdez stressed the budget would also “serve as an instrument for the government to spread the dividends of economic progress through various social protection and financial assistance initiatives, and funding for infrastructures like roads, hospitals, classrooms, seaports and airports, irrigation systems, and transportation networks.”

“We hope our people will feel the benefits of growth through the programs intended for them in the national budget,” he added.

The House leader earlier thanked the committee on appropriations led by Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co as chairman and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo as senior vice chairperson for shepherding the 2025 spending bill.

House Majority Leader and Zamboanga City Rep. Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, chairman of the House committee on rules, said President Marcos is expected to certify the proposed 2025 as urgent.

Also to be tackled today are the budgets of the Dangerous Drugs Board, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Presidential Management Staff, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the National Security Council.

The House is also expected to discuss today the allocations for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity; National Amnesty Commission, Marawi Compensation Board, Mindanao Development Authority, Energy Regulatory Commission as well as for the Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Energy.