Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday, Nov. 10 proposed incentivizing the opening of face-to-face classes by giving state universities and colleges (SUCs) and public schools access to the P3.5-billion fund allocated for the retrofitting of education institutions under the proposed...
The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Senator Sonny Angara, has endorsed for plenary approval Committee Report No. 332 which contains the P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022. This marks the start of lengthy plenary deliberations on the budgets of various government agencies and their...
Some senators on Monday, Nov. 8 expressed readiness to tackle the amendments to the proposed P5-trillion national budget. Senator Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said the many of the committee report amendments are focused on boosting the government’s COVID-19 response,...
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to accelerate its hiring process and fill the remaining vacant teaching positions. Gatchalian noted that the DepEd is seeking an additional P2.58-billion in 2022 to hire 10,000 teachers, yet more than 30,000 teaching positions...
Senator Cynthia Villar on Friday could not help but lose her temper when she scrutinized the proposed P505-million budget of the National Tobacco Administration’s (NTA) budget for 2022. NTA, an agency under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture (DA), had included in its proposed...
Senators are eyeing a special provision under the proposed 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that would put an end to the practice of government agencies of transferring their funds to the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (DBM-PS) and the Philippine International...
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque doesn't think Congress--in particular, the Senate--would allow a reenacted national budget to be signed for 2022, an election year. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque (Photo from Harry Roque's Facebook) Roque was the sole guest of the Kapihan sa Manila Bay...
President Duterte has dared the Senate to make good of its supposed threats to slash the allocations of certain agencies amid the ongoing 2022 national budget hearings of the legislative chamber. JUST DO IT--President Duterte challenges the Senate to significantly reduce the budgets of certain...
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has vowed to transmit to the Senate the proposed P5.024-trillion General Appropriations Act on October 27 to ensure the timely enactment of the measure. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco3 This after a five man committee in the Lower House consolidated the proposed amendments to...
The House of Representatives on Thursday, Oct. 14 re-aligned a total P65.504 billion from the proposed 2022 national budget of P5.024 trillion to finance priority programs under a pandemic situation that included the procurement of additional anti-COVID 19 vaccines and booster shots. House of...
Some senators have urged the Department of Health (DOH) to include hospital janitors and other frontline health workers to be included in the distribution of Special Risk Allowance (SRA) benefits. Senator Panfilo Lacson said it is imperative that the DOH also consider the plight of other workers in...
The Senate Finance subcommittee on Tuesday, Oct. 12 swiftly approved the Commission on Audit’s (COA) proposed P14.463-billion budget for 2022. Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate finance panel, automatically endorsed COA”s proposed funding to the plenary after no senators interpellated or...
