House begins committee hearings on proposed 2025 national budget
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (left) receives from Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman the proposed P6.3-trillion National Expenditure Program for Fiscal Year 2025. | File photo dated July 29, 2024. from the House of Representatives
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives started its deliberations on the P6.3 trillion proposed national budget for 2025 at the committee level on Monday.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez initially presided, and then the House Committee on Appropriations started its deliberations by scrutinizing the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
The DBCC consists of representatives from the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Finance, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Office of the President, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
It will be quizzed about how it formulated the National Expenditures Program (NEP) and identified its funding sources.
In his opening speech, Romualdez said crafting the national budget was a “critical tool for steering a country’s development path.”
Article continues after this advertisement“As we proceed, we are fortunate to have the opportunity of listening to our esteemed guests as they elucidate on the process of formulating the P6.352 trillion National Expenditure Program,” he told lawmakers.
“The proposed 2025 national budget is anchored on the theme ‘Agenda for Prosperity: Fulfilling the Needs and Aspirations of the Filipino People,’” he noted.
According to Romualdez, education will be a priority, along with public works, health, local government, defense, and transportation.
He gave the following proposed allocations:
- education: P977.6 billion
- public works: P900
- health: P297.6 billion
- interior and local government: P278.4 billion
- defense: P256.1 billion
- social welfare: P230.1 billion
- agriculture: P211.3 billion
- transportation: P180.9 billion
- judiciary: P63.6 billion
- justice: P40.6 billion
READ: DBM submits proposed P6.3T national budget for 2025 to House
After the DBCC, the House will discuss on Tuesday, April 6, the contributions to the budgets of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
As of Monday, here is the schedule of agencies that will appear before the Committee on Appropriations:
- August 7: Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
- August 8: Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, Commission on Higher Education
- August 12: Department of Agriculture
- August 13: Department of Foreign Affairs and Commission on Audit
- August 14: Department of Trade and Industry
- August 15 Department of Agrarian Reform, Office of the Vice President, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government
- August 20: Department of Migrant Workers and Department of Tourism
- August 22: Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Information and Communications Technology, and Department of Social Welfare and Development
- August 27: Civil Service Commission and Office of the Ombudsman
- August 28: Department of Transportation
- August 29: Commission on Elections, Commission on Human Rights, and Department of Science and Technology
- September 2: Department of Education
- September 3: Office of the President and Presidential Communications Office
- September 4: Department of Health
- September 5: Judiciary, Department of Justice, and Department of Public Works and Highways
- September 9: Department of National Defense
The proposed 2025 budget was transmitted to Congress last July 29 — the earliest that the executive, under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., sent an NEP to the legislature.
Under the Constitution, the executive is given 30 days after a president’s State of the Nation address to submit the NEP to Congress.
