MANILA – Days after President Rodrigo Duterte certified the measure as urgent, the House of Representatives railroaded the passage of the P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget.
In a 257-6 voting on Friday, the House approved on second and third reading House Bill No. 4228 or the proposed national budget for next year.
The six lawmakers who opposed the passage of the budget bill were opposition congressmen Carlos Zarate, Eufemia Cullamat and Ferdinand Gaite of Bayan Muna, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela, France Castro of ACT Teachers, and Sarah Elago of Kabataan.
“The House sacrificed the proper scrutiny of programs and projects of the Duterte administration just to railroad the approval of the 2020 national budget,” Zarate said.
The approval of the measure came a month after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted its proposed National Expenditure Plan to the Congress on Aug. 20.
House speaker Alan Peter Cayetano thanked his fellow congressmen for passing a “quality people’s budget in record time.”
“Opo mabilis po tayo pero hindi lang po sa budget. Our passing the budget on record time will give our standing and special committees more time to exercise their oversight functions,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano urged his colleagues to submit their amendments to the proposed budget as he admitted that the expenditure plan for next year was still “imperfect.”
The proposed budget was the first to breach P4 trillion. It prioritized funding for education, infrastructure, security, universal health care and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
The approval of the budget bill was contrary to the 2019 budget, which was delayed until April./PN
