Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 8) – Senators will hold more session days to scrutinize the proposed ₱5.024-trillion national budget for 2022, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III announced on Monday.
In a text message to reporters, Sotto said the senators agreed to have plenary sessions until Thursday this week, instead of the usual Monday to Wednesday schedule.
Next week, budget debates may be held until Friday, Sotto said.
He added that beginning this Wednesday, senators will open budget deliberations in the morning instead of the usual 3 p.m. schedule of plenary sessions.
More people will also be allowed to enter Senate premises, as long as they have negative RT-PCR test results for the last 72 hours.
These rules were agreed upon by the senators during a caucus on Monday as they resumed the third regular session after a month-long congressional break.
Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the committee on finance, is expected to sponsor the budget bill at the plenary on Tuesday.
Next year’s proposed budget is considered the highest in Philippine history, with allocations for pandemic response and recovery. It’s also an election year budget.
“Many of the Committee report amendments are still about our COVID response and health-related interventions: salaries, benefits, and allowances of health workers; added funds for booster vaccines, testing, and tracing; improving health facilities; [and funding for the] medical scholarship law,” Angara said in a text message to reporters.
“We cannot overemphasize the importance of the budget for 2022, because it will be the first for the new administration as it faces humongous problems – including the heavy task of leading the nation to recovery from the effects of the pandemic,” Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said in a separate statement.
Sotto earlier said he’s hoping the Senate will pass the proposed national expenditure plan by the first week of December to avoid a reenacted budget.
