The Senate has approved the proposed P32.4 billion 2023 budget of the Department of Finance (DOF) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) along with their attached agencies and state-owned companies.
Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, sponsored and defended the DOF’s proposed P30.6-billion and DBM’s P1.8-billion budget in plenary.
“I thank the Committee on Finance, led by Senator Sonny Angara, and the Senators for the attention they have given to the deliberation and swift approval of the DOF’s budget,” Diokno said.
"This budget will give us the tools we need to fully implement the Marcos administration’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework for fiscal sustainability and continued growth,” he added.
The DOF’s proposed budget is allocated to the department’s offices and attached agencies, including the Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Local Government Finance, Bureau of the Treasury, among others.
The appropriation also provides for budgetary support to government corporations, including the Philippine Tax Academy and Philippine Crop Insurance Corp.
Meanwhile, the Senate moved to approve the proposed budget of the DBM and its attached agencies, the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) and Procurement Service-DBM (PS-DBM).
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, who was also present in the Senate deliberations, thanked the members of the Senate for the approval of the DBM and its attached agencies' budget for next year.
"We are grateful to the honorable members of the Senate, under the leadership of Senate President (Juan Miguel) Zubiri, for the swift approval of our budget for 2023. As mentioned before, we will ensure that the Filipino people get the most of every peso entrusted to their government," Pangandaman said.
The plenary debates on the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) commenced Wednesday, starting with the General Principles as top of the agenda during the morning session.
The rest of the country’s Economic Team, including Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla, and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, was also in full force as Angara defended the proposed 2023 budget.
The Senate has earlier vowed to finish budget deliberations until the final reading of House Bill No. 4488 or the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by November 21, 2022.