The House of Representatives has begun the period of sponsorship and debates on the 2023 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, delivered his sponsorship speech on the P5.268-trillion GAB during plenary session on Tuesday morning, Sept. 20.
The GAB is also known as House Bill (HB) No. 4488, titled, "An Act appropriating funds for the operation of the government of the Republic of the Philippines from January one to December thirty-one, two thousand and twenty-three (January 1 to December 31, 2023)".
It was first read on the plenary floor on Monday afternoon as emanating from committee report no.43, which was submitted by the appropriations panel.
The Palace-submitted National Expenditure Program (NEP) serves as the basis of the GAB, which, upon enactment by the President becomes the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget.
"It is now the responsibility of the House of Representatives through the Committee on Appropriations, where the General Appropriations Act originates, to pass a timely, responsive and inclusive budget for the Filipino people," Co said in his speech.
"The President's budget (NEP) message clearly underlines that the overall goal is to reinvigorate job creation and reduce poverty by steering the economy back to its high-growth path in the near term and sustaining its high, inclusive, and resilient growth in the long term," the House leader noted.
Co said that in financing the proposed budget, the national government expects revenue collections in fiscal year (FY) 2023 to reach P3.633 trillion or 15.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).This is 10 percent higher than the FY 2022 programmed revenue of P3.304 trillion, which is equivalent to 15.2 percent of GDP, he said.
"The P3.633-trillion revenue will fund about 69 percent of the P5.268-trillion programmed disbursements for FY 2023, obliging the national government to partly finance through borrowings about 31 percent of the expenditures.
"In view of the foregoing, I request every member of this august body to join the members of the Committee on Appropriations in coming up with a collective decision and recommendation to approve this for FY 2023, which authorizes the appropriations of P4.259 trillion for the operation of the national government, consist of P3.671 trillion in programmed new appropriations and P588 billion in unprogrammed appropriations," Co appealed to the plenary.
He further said that "The timely passage of the ensures the fulfillment of the administration's agenda for prosperity and economic transformation."
"The House Appropriations Committee has completed its constitutional function promptly and thoroughy," he added.
"In solidarity and with a united front, we shall be able to deliver the necessary tools and resources with this budget to improve the lives of our constituents and uplift their hope for a better quality of life and future prosperity and advancement of the Filipino people,” Co said.
More than 50 authors
The GAB resulted from three weeks worth of scrutinization of the proposed P5.268-trillion NEP. This was done by the appropriations panel via tedious per agency budget deliberations, some of which lasted eight to 10 hours.
Over 50 House members were listed as authors of HB No.4488 or the GAB.
Leading the authors were House Speaker Martin Romualdez; Majority Leader, Zamboanga City 2nd district Rep. Mannix Dalipe; Committee on Appropriations Chairman, Co; and appropriations panel Senior Vice Chairperson, Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo.
Quimbo began defense of the general principles and provisions of the GAB following Co's speech.
"While we may have different ideas on how to recover , as we debate today, we must all be guided by the convergent principles and goals," she said in her own sponsorship remarks.
"We need to invest in our farmers. We need to enhance human capital. We need to grow our MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), which are the backbone of our economy. We need to create effective networks of physical and digital infrastructure to ensure mobility and smooth flow of goods and services," added Quimbo.
During the plenary debates, members of the appropriations committee, mostly the vice chairmen, will take turns sponsoring and defending the individual budgets of the agencies that were reviewed during the budget deliberation phase.
The House of Representatives, which possess the power of the purse, is racing to approve the GAB on third and final reading before Oct. 1, or before the chamber goes on a month-long recess.
Doing so will go a long way in ensuring that the GAB will be enacted before the end of 2022.