Romualdez vows swift passage of national budget for 2024, Marcos priority measures
MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Martin Romualdez said Friday that lawmakers at the lower chamber will immediately buckle down to study the proposed P5.768 trillion spending measure for 2024 at the start of the 2nd regular session in July while ensuring the swift passage of the president's priority measures.
The House leader said that the lower chamber will be “working overtime to comprehensively scrutinize the national budget by virtue of its ‘power of the purse’ mandate” as he vows the passage of 20 priority measures of the Marcos Jr. administration.
"When the House starts Plenary deliberations of the national budget, some committees may be authorized to pursue the performance of its mandate of passing vital pieces of legislation," Romualdez added.
Marcos approved in late June the proposed 2024 national expenditure program (NEP) for transmittal to Congress, several items of which seek to revitalize the country's economic landscape and pave the way for pandemic recovery.
The NEP 2024 is 9.5% bigger than for 2023, the Development Budget Coordination Committee said in a statement, with its priority line items focused on promoting "social and economic transformation through infrastructure development, food security, digital transformation and human capital development.
According to the Constitution, the executive branch must submit the proposed national budget to Congress within 30 days after the president’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). This year’s SONA is scheduled on July 24.
In a press release on June 23, Department of Budget and Manage Secretary Amenah Pangdaman said that the proposed budget for 2024 took into account the administration's eight-point socio-economic agenda and aligned its expenditures with those in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
20 priority measures seen to swiftly pass Congress
During the second Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) presided by Marcos on Wednesday, ranking lawmakers from the House and Senate agreed to pass 20 legislative measures prioritized by the Marcos administration by December 2023.
RELATED: LIST: 20 measures prioritized for passage by December 2023
Some of the measures are focused on improving regulations to promote further investments, such as the Amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer Law, the Ease of Paying Taxes Bill, and the Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law.
The other priority measures aim to improve overall healthcare, such as the National Disease Prevention Authority Bill, the Medical Reserve Corps Bill, and the Virology Institute of the Philippines Bill.
The House has approved on third reading 33 out of 42 bills listed as priority measures during the first LEDAC meeting. — Cristina Chi
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