House members' deliberation on the proposed 2023 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) reached a "record" 10 hours and two minutes, making it the longest budget briefing in the ongoing budget process in the lower chamber.

So lengthy was the briefing conducted by the House Committee on Appropriations that panel Senior Vice Chairperson Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo felt the need to apologize to the DOH contingent that physically attended the briefing at the House of Representatives.

"Record breaking po ang DOH . Umabot tayo ng 7:42 (The DOH hearing is record-breaking. We reached 7:42 p.m.) We started at 9:40 ," Quimbo said.

Leading the DOH team was its Officer-in-Charge, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

"So marami tayong napag-usapan ngayong araw, obviously maraming interesado sa problema ng kalusugan. Pasensya na po sa napakaraming pagtatanong sa inyo (So we discussed a lot today, obviously a lot of us were interested in health issues. I apologize for the so many questions asked to you) but we are here just to make sure that you have the resources that you need and the resources that you can adequately absorb," Quimbo told Vergeire.

The congresswoman went on to praise the DOH contingent for their efforts amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

"So with that, of course I thank all of you, kayo ay naging (you became the) frontliners in the last two and a half years. So on behalf of all my colleagues, we thank you for all that you did for the country at sana po pagtulung-tulungan natin ang budget ng DOH family (and I hope we cooperate for the sake of the budget of the DOH family)," the House leader said.

Vergeire and company sat like champs during the marathon hearing and answered questions from nearly 50 congressman-interpellators.

Unlike other departments' budget briefings before the appropriations panel, the DOH briefing didn't undergo a lunch break and instead had a working lunch.

Fittingly, it was a former DOH secretary in Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin who motioned to terminate or conclude the consideration of the DOH's proposed budget for next year, which stood at P195.63 billion.

Quimbo swiftly carried the motion after it was seconded without objections.

The previous longest budget briefing in connection with the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 was that of the Department of Agriculture's (DA).

Held last Sept. 5, the DA budget hearing lasted eight hours.