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Bicam OKs report on 2021 nat’l budget; ratification expected Wednesday afternoon
Members of the bicameral conference committee on Wednesday morning reconvened at a hotel in Makati to discuss the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 and approved the bicam report at 10:14 a.m.
Both chambers are expected to ratify it during their respective plenary sessions later in the afternoon.
Data from Angara's office showed that the following got the lion's share of the proposed 2021 budget:
- Education sector (DepEd, CHED, TESDA, SUCs) - P708.2 billion
- Department of Public Works and Highways - P 694.8 billion
- Department of the Interior and Local Government - 247.5 billion
- Department of National Defense - P205.5 billion
- Department of Social Welfare and Development - P176.7 billion
- Department of Health - P134.9 billion
- Department of Transportation - P87.4 billion
- Department of Agriculture - P68.6 billion
- Judiciary - P44.1 billion
- Department of Labor and Employment - P36.6 billion
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The bicam members held their first meeting last December 1 where they designated Committee on Finance Senator chairperson Sonny Angara and House Committee on Appropriations chairperson Eric Yap to discuss the amendments.
At Wednesday's meeting, six lawmakers are physically present: Senators Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian and Pia Cayetano, along with Representatives Yap, Bernadette Dy, and Mikee Romero. Others were virtually present via teleconference.
After the expected ratification in Congress later in the day, the budget bill may be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for signature by December 18, according to Yap.
The committee has retained the contested P19-billion budget for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), despite a request from progressive Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives for its defunding.
The bloc has written Speaker Lord Allan Velasco asking him to reallocate NTF-ELCAC's budget, among others, to augment the allocations for health, education, and job creation for next year.
Meanwhile, Angara said around P70 billion was allocated for the purchase, storage, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines under the proposed national budget for 2021. — Dona Magsino/RSJ/KBK, GMA News