House, Senate convenes for ‘Bicam’ on 2025 budget

The Senate and House of Representatives contingents meet on Thursday, November 28, 2024 at the Sheraton Hotel in Pasay City to iron out the disagreeing provisions of House Bill No. 10800 or the General Appropriations Bill.

Both panels are led by their respective leaders, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (at the center).

On motion of Sen. Joel Villanueva, the committee had agreed to create a technical working group that will further study some disagreeing provisions of the proposed P6.352-trillion 2025 national budget.

For his part, Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero stressed that the annual budget is the most important, crucial, and complex piece of legislation that Congress will pass compared to other pieces of legislation.

“Complicated because it is lengthy, involving a large amount of money, detailing where the funds would be allocated, which of various projects for different sectors and different parts of our country,” the Senate chief said in Filipino.

On the part of the Bicam, he said it is more complicated because members need to reconcile the different amounts that were added, transferred, and taken from various items in the budget proposal submitted by the executive branch.

“Long and complicated as it may be, I expect that in due time next week, before we adjourn for the Christmas break, this will be finalized and approved by both conference panels and submitted to the President before Christmas for his review and approval before the new year begins,” he

Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Committee on Finance, will lead the Senate contingent to the Bicam.

She noted that next year’s budget is bigger by 10 percent from this year’s actual appropriation of P5.768 trillion.

Poe described the budget as “the blueprint of our priorities and the heartbeat of our nation’s future” and not just a series of numbers in the spreadsheet.

She thanked her colleagues and their staff who worked tirelessly “burning the midnight oil on many occasions” to pass the budget on time.

“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.

With no amendment from her colleagues, the GAB, which was certified urgent by the President, was passed on second and final reading Tuesday, November 26, 2024 (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau).