House will approve 2021 budget on time despite 1-day break —Defensor

Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Thursday assured the public that the House of Representatives will approve the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget on time, despite the one-day suspension of plenary deliberations.

“We can pass it on second reading, as the leadership has promised, before we go on our first recess on October 17 despite the recent events,” Defensor said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Defensor moved to suspend until Friday the House plenary deliberations on the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Bill, right after the House rejected the offer of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to resign as Speaker.

In clarifying his move, Defensor said, “It was not intended to hold the proposed budget hostage but to quicken deliberations when the funding proposals of these agencies are up for scrutiny in plenary.”

“We have enough time to beat that deadline and approve an equitable and pandemic-responsive budget so the President could sign it before the end of 2020,” he added.

The House plenary deliberations will resume on Friday at 10 a.m.

House appropriations chair Eric Yap earlier said that the House is targeting to finish its budget deliberations by October 14, before Congress goes on a month-long break. —LBG, GMA News