P373-billion amendment in 2025 budget questioned 

At the start of the deliberations of the House of Representatives on the proposed P6.793 trillion for next year, a lawmaker raised questions on the P373-billion amendment by Congress in the 2025 budget.

"To be specific about it, it was cut and diverted to other items, either augmenting existing items or new ones," Caloocan Rep. Edgard Erice said in a "24 Oras" report by Tina Panganiban-Perez.

"After reviewing, the President vetoed only P26 billion, a small amount compared to the huge amendment," he added.

In response, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said, "At any given time during budget execution, the President can withhold releases of the budget if it is not consistent with the priorities of this administration."

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, meanwhile, raised questions on the small committee, which was created after the budget's passage, to finalize the appropriations bill.

"The initiative and errata come from Congress, that's why Secretary Recto seemed to have a hard time responding to our query as to how some items were reduced.  It's Congress that knows about that," he said.

Tiangco asked the House appropriations committee for records of the two meetings of the small committee last year on the 2025 budget.

"The request will be under consideration," House appropriations panel chairperson Rep. Mika Suansing said.

However, Tiangco was not satisfied.

"This is not acceptable; these are public records, and there were too many violations.  There were no records; now you're saying it's not readily available. Is this a secret?" he said.

In retort, Suansing said, "The small committee is subsumed within the committee on appropriations. It is not required to render a separate report. The rule you are citing pertained to the standing committees."

For the 2026 budget, the small committee will be replaced by a budget amendments subcommittee to be composed of select House members from the majority and the minority blocs.  This panel will be organized at the start of the budget deliberations.

The House leadership also said the budget deliberations will be open to civil society observers.

"The House has opened its doors wider than ever before," Speaker Martin Romualdez said.

In their presentation, economic managers discussed addressing inflation, the rise in the per capita gross national income, economic growth, and job creation.

Department of Economy, Planning, and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan raised hopes that the country would achieve the upper middle income status this year.

"Per capita gross national income continues to rise, bringing us closer to World Bank's upper middle income threshold. We are poised to reach this milestone, possibly even this year," Balisacan said.

However, he said the government should continue to address the economic challenges to continuously spur growth.

"The agriculture industry continues to face structural challenges, which we must address to reinforce our economic drivers and generate higher-quality jobs. Another challenge is the concentration of economic activities in Mega Manila," Balisacan said.

"To address this, infrastructure development remains a cornerstone of our strategy," he added.

Recto said the Marcos government has inherited a huge national debt from borrowings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address this, the Finance chief said tax collection must be boosted and idle government assets must be disposed of to generate additional revenues. He also said borrowings will be inevitable.

"Let us all together carefully choose projects in the budget that deliver the biggest growth and economic benefits for our people," Recto said. —LDF, GMA Integrated News