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Marcos to sign 2024 nat'l budget by Dec. 20, House Speaker bares
Marcos to sign 2024 nat'l budget by Dec. 20, House Speaker bares
TOKYO, Japan—President Marcos is expected to sign the 2024 national budget on Wednesday, Dec. 20, House Speaker Martin Romualdez disclosed.
In an interview with Malacañang reporters on Sunday night, Dec. 17, Romualdez said it should have been signed before the President left for Tokyo if only Congress had transmitted to Malacañang the enrolled copy of the P5.768-trillion national budget earlier.
He, however, said it is now "ready to go."
"It’s ready for ano, I think Wednesday. Wednesday na ata yung signing po (The signing might be on Wednesday)," Romualdez said.
"In fact, yung gusto lang niya (what he wants), I think he would have signed it before he left. But I think ano, pini-print-print print pa. May printing mga requirements 'di ba. Daming kopya yang kailangan (But there are still printing requirements because we need a lot of copies). But other than that, it’s ready, it’s ready to go," he added.
The House Speaker, who is the President's cousin, also bared that they are not anticipating any vetoes.
"We’re not anticipating any. Sumusunod lang naman kami sa mga (We are just following the) parameters and we’ve been working closely naman with OP (Office of the President) and all the departments," he said.
When asked whether or not the President agreed with the deletion of confidential funds from civilian agencies, the lawmaker said he thinks so as "both Houses agreed upon it" and the heads of the departments have agreed to voluntarily withdraw it.
He also pointed out that Marcos would rather focus on security and defense issues, especially the West Philippines Sea, thus minimizing the need to allot confidential and intelligence funds to civilian departments.
"And the President is of that mind that as much as possible to minimize the CIFs of the civilian department or agencies and rather focus where, you know, where it’s best suited, dito sa mga (here on the) security issues, yung defense, ‘yang sa Coast Guard, the West Philippine Sea," he said.
Before leaving Manila on Friday, Dec. 15, Marcos said he would sign the budget in the coming days once the bicameral committee to finalize the final version of the P5.768-trillion national budget for next year.