Reporting that the Senate Finance Committee, which he chairs, has wrapped up committee deliberations on the 2012 budgets of various national government agencies, Drilon pledged that “We will diligently work for the passage of the budget so that by January 1, we will have an approved national budget for 2012.”
Next year’s proposed budget has been transmitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate on Wednesday and was referred to the Finance Committee, he said, adding that the Senate committee will review the amendments incorporated by the House in the budget bill.
According to the senator, House Bill 5023, or the proposed General Appropriations Act of 2012, which was approved by the House on Tuesday last week, will be sponsored in the Senate plenary when sessions resume on November 14.
He added that the plenary debates on the budget bill is expected to be completed by November 22, after which the P1.6-trillion budget would be passed on the same day by the Senate on second and third reading.
A bicameral conference committee would be convened from November 23 to 28 to reconcile disagreements between the Senate and the House versions of the budget, said Drilon even as he gave assurance of the passage of the government’s spending plan before lawmakers go on a holiday break on December 17.
The proposed outlay for next year is 10.4 percent higher from the current year’s outlay of P1.645 trillion. The 2012 budget represents 16.5 percent of gross domestic product, or the value of goods and services produced by an economy in a given period.
According to departmental allocations, the Department of Education has the highest with P238.8 billion; followed by Department of Public Works and Highways, P125.5 billion; Department of National Defense, P107.9 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government, P49.4 billion; and Department of Agriculture, P54 billion.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development will get P49.4 billion; Department of Health, P44.4 billion; Department of Transportation and Communications, P34.6 billion; Department of Agrarian Reform, P18.3 billion; and the Judiciary, P15.7 billion.
