THE Senate approved the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on third and final reading, which proposes a P6.352 trillion national budget for next year.
The bill was approved after it garnered 18 yes votes, zero no votes and one abstention.
The Senate approved the measure on both the second and third readings the same day after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. certified it as urgent.
Senator Grace Poe, who sponsored the bill as the chairperson of the Committee on Finance, said the measure includes amendments demonstrating the Senate’s commitment to supporting programs that benefit Filipinos.
“Sa bawat sektor na ating sinuportahan, mula agrikultura hanggang edukasyon, mula kalusugan hanggang seguridad, ay kalakip ang ating pangako sa taongbayan na walang maiiwan at walang mapapabayaan sa abot ng ating makakakaya. This budget stands as a testament to our shared vision of a nation that prioritizes its people, a government that listens, and a Senate that delivers,” Poe said.
(In every sector we have supported, from agriculture to education, from healthcare to security, is our commitment to the people that no one will be left behind and no one will be neglected to the best of our ability. This budget stands as a testament to our shared vision of a nation that prioritizes its people, a government that listens, and a Senate that delivers.)
Poe said the Senate supported the House of Representatives’ decision to reduce the budget allotment for the Office of the Vice President to P733 million, down from the original request of P2 billion.
The House of Representatives opted to bring down the budget allocation for the OVP after Vice President Sara Duterte refused to attend and answer questions related to how her office spent its budget.
She said the budget hearings are being used to attack her and that only two people control the national budget—House Speaker Martin Romualdez and House Committee on Appropriations Chairperson, Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Zaldy Co.
The Senate also removed the P39 billion budget allocation for the controversial Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap) intended for minimum wage workers.
Lawmakers in the upper chamber noted that Akap was not included in the Senate and House versions of the 2024 national budget.
The Senate, however, allocated more budget for the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization, the calamity fund, the procurement of a new traffic management system, the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance-Air Traffic Management system, and the budget for the Philippines’ hosting of the Asean Summit in 2026, among others.
The bicameral conference committee will now reconcile the disagreeing provisions of Senate and House-approved GAB before it will be submitted to Marcos for approval. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
