Congress will work double time to pass the proposed 2022 P5 trillion national budget bill by Thursday and send the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) to President Duterte one week later, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Saturday, Dec. 11 said.
Interviewed by DWIZ radio, Zubiri said the original Senate and House of Representatives bicameral conference committee panels have decided to allow Senator Juan Edgardo ‘’Sonny’’ M. Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance committee and head of the Senate panel, and his House counterpart to sit down and iron out the disagreeing provisions of their budget bills.
if the original committee membership- 12 from the Senate and 20 from the Lower House - had been allowed to iron their disagreeing provisions, there is a big chance that the budget discussions would take a little longer and would continue until early next year, Zubiri said.
Zubiri said senators trust Angara whose integrity is unassailable.
One particular item that both panels have to reconcile is how much should Congress give to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The Lower House wanted P20 billion while the Senate appropriated P10.8 billion.
Zubiri said he is certain that the budget as consolidated by the two panels would be approved Thursday.
Both legislative chambers have to ratify the conference committee report on the budget before the GAB is sent to the President.
Zubiri sees the Senate working double time this coming week with bills slated to be approved on second reading.
There is therefore a need for a plenary session on Thursday to pass these measures on third and final reading, he explained.
If there is a need for the Senate to work on Friday, we would do it, he explained.
Bills that are not certified by the President go through a three-day printing rule before they are taken up on third and final reading.
Crowding the legislative calendar for next week are public services bills in the Senate and local bills from the Lower House, Zubiri said.
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