House to work 'overtime' on passing budget: Arroyo

MANILA - Former President and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday said the House of Representatives will work "overtime" to ensure the passage of the 2019 budget before the year ends.

In am ambush interview, Arroyo explained her fellow legislators would rather work late than work on Thursdays and Fridays, especially with the period for the filing of candidacy for the May 2019 mid-term elections coming up.

"We used to have budget sessions Thursdays and Fridays but they don’t want to have session on Thursday and Friday because we are nearing the period of filing of candidacy," Arroyo told reporters.

"Many discussions are now going on in the districts and so I said that’s fine with me, we will not have Thursday and Friday sessions but that means we will have to overtime on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It seems to be working well anyway," she added.

She said that Congress will be on recess from Oct. 13 to Nov. 11. The bill should be submitted to the Senate before the recess to make sure they can finish it on time, Arroyo said.

"You know I don’t find it strange because when I was undersecretary of trade, we also used to stay until 2 o’clock in the morning waiting for our turn. And when I was a senator, we also used to do our budget sessions until very, very late," she said.

The Sept. 24 session ended close to 3:00 a.m. Tuesday.

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