The House of Representatives (HoR) will ask the Executive to certify as urgent the proposed 2022 national budget.
In an interview with House reporters, ACT CIS Partylist Rep. Eric Yap said he and Speaker Lord Allan Velasco will meet with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Thursday (Aug. 26).
"I ju-justfiy lang namin kung bakit kailangan i-certify as urgent (We will just justify why it needs to be certified as urgent)," Yap said, adding that the House only has a short period to deliberate on the national budget.
The solon said the House needs to pass the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on second and third reading by Sept. 30, as session break starts Oct. 1.
"November first week babalik ang session. One week before the start of November session dapat mabigyan na ng copy ng GAB ang Senate para makapag start na sila mag review bago pa man ang session (The session will resume on November first week. One week before the start of November, we must be able to give the Senate a copy of the GAB so they could start reviewing it even before the start of the session)," Yap said.
Yap said the House aims to finish deliberation at the committee level within two weeks.
The solon also said he is confident that the Executive will grant the House's request to certify the GAB as urgent.
"Kailangan ma certify as urgent, dahil sabi nga we have the biggest in history of the Philippines, yung budget ngayon which is P5 trillion, but we have the shortest days para tapusin 'tong budget hearing na ito (It needs to be certified as urgent because as stated, we have the biggest in history of the Philippines, the budget now which is P5 trillion, but we have the shortest days to finish the budget hearing)" he said.
Yap said the House only has an estimated one month to finish its budget deliberations.