Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri vowed on Wednesday, Aug. 24 the early passage of the proposed 2023 P5.288 trillion national budget of the Marcos administration.
Zubiri said the speedy Senate committee hearings and the expected early passage of the proposed budget is anchored on the fact that there is a minimal four percent increase in the proposed 2023 budget over the current 2022 budget.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives received copies of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) from the Executive branch last Monday, Aug. 22.
Based on the Constitution, the lower House has the first crack on the budget because it is a money bill.
Once it is approved by the House of Representatives, the NEP becomes the General Appropriations Bill (GAB). After the President signs it, it becomes the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Although the upper chamber or Senate gets to scrutinize the proposed budget from the House, Zubiri said he expects that there would be minimal changes or revisions to the budget.
The lower chamber is expected to finish scrutinizing the proposed budget by September or October before it its transmitted to the Senate.
The Senate usually holds an almost parallel budget briefing and hearing with the House based on its own copy of the NEP.
The 2023 NEP will be the first annual general expenditure program of the Marcos administration.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said there is a double digit increase in the allocations for the education, infrastructure, health, social protection, and agriculture sectors.