The bicameral conference committee on Monday convened to tackle the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget, but ultimately postponed after 10 minutes upon request of the House of Representatives contingent.
House Minority Leader Rolando Zamora moved to suspend the bicam meeting to allow the House contingent to review the Senate-approved version of the 2016 budget.
Zamora also said the postponement would allow the respective staffs of the House and the Senate to meet and work out matrix “so that we can compare our version with [that of] the Senate version.”
“Subsequently Mr. Chairman, perhaps you can meet at some other time, perhaps later this week, or if it’s necessary to give a little more time, perhaps early next week so that we can sit down and work out the details. I so move Mr. Chair,” Zamora moved during first meeting of the bicam at 10 a.m.
Last week the Senate approved its 2016 national budget version, which contains amendments, including the P10-billion augmentation to the national defense’s budget.
It was Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile who suggested to increase the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) budget from House-approved P15.4 billion to P25.4 billion to increase the country’s air assets and capabilities.
The Senate also restored the Commission on Election’s P500-million budget for the Electronic Results Transmission Solution, Management and Services to expedite the transmission of the election results in the May 2016 polls.
The total net change that the Senate has approved as compared to the House version was P18.5 billion.
The Department of Education once again received the largest portion in the budget pie, with an allocation of P411.89 billion, an increase of 28.