Lacson urges House to approve budget on 3rd reading before All Saints' Day

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said the House of Representatives should resume session for a day and pass the national budget for 2021 on final reading before November 1 to avoid the looming possibility of having a reenacted budget next year.

Lacson, who earlier warned of a reenacted budget because of the sudden changes of schedule in the House, said Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's "one-day delay" is actually equivalent to a month lost for the senators to study and craft a committee report.

"I have just suggested to the Speaker if it's possible for him to resume their session, which is merely suspended and not adjourned, before All Saints' Day just to approve on third and final reading the House version of the budget measure and thereafter transmit the same to us," he said in a statement.

"That is the only way we can ensure the timely passage of the budget measure. We cannot afford an impasse involving the most important piece of legislation that Congress has to pass: the national budget," he added.

Lacson explained that if the House will be able to approve the budget bill on third reading before November 1, the senators will have enough time to scrutinize it, prepare a committee report, and start the floor debates immediately after session resumes on November 16.

Cayetano on Wednesday said the Senate is to be blamed if the approval of the national budget for 2021 will be delayed as he claimed that the suspension of session in the House would just cause a one-day delay.

Budget bills, just like franchises, shall emanate from the Lower House before they can be tackled in the Senate plenary.

The House suddenly suspended its session on Tuesday after approving the budget bill only on second reading. This happened amid the speakership squabble between Cayetano and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco.—AOL, GMA News