The chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee appropriations has guaranteed the approval of the proposed P3.767 -trillion national budget for 2018.
Panel chairperson Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said a reenacted budget will never happen under the Duterte administration.
At a news conference, Nograles said the final day for the filing of individual amendments on House Bill 6215 or the P3.767-trillion General Appropriations Bill lapsed Wednesday.
The printing of the final version of the document has already begun, Nograles said.
“Printing will take up to four days,” Nograles, who added that copies of the GAB containing the amendments will be distributed to the 294 members of the House of Representatives.
“Barring any delays in the printing…it will go to plenary [for 3rd reading approval] Tuesday, or the latest Wednesday [next week],” said Nograles, who is part of the “small committee” that was tasked by the House leadership to oversee proposed individual amendments to the 2018 national budget.
President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign the 2018 national budget on or before Nov. 15, 2017.
The small committee on the national budget in the Lower House also has the power to introduce amendments themselves, he said.
Nograles said there had been a slight delay in the presentation of the GAB for third reading approval because his panel had to go through the budget with a fine-tooth comb to be able to raise the needed money to fund the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act” or the free higher education law.
“This even turned out to be a blessing because it led to the restoration of the budget of the Commission on Human Rights, Energy Regulatory Commission and the National Commission on Indigenous People which were initially given P1,000 budget by the House,” he added.
Nograles said, however, that his panel is still on target with their schedule for the timely approval of the GAB and avoid a scenario of a reenacted budget.
He said the Senate will have ample time to go over the House’s version of the GAB.
With the budgets of the three agencies restored to reasonable levels, there are hardly any contentious provisions left where the House and Senate might disagree, the Appropriations chairman noted.