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Congress OKs P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget

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RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Congress has approved the P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget, paving the way for President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to sign next year&#x27;s spending plan before the year ends.The Senate and the House of Representatives separately ratified the bicameral conference committee report reconciling the differences of their respective versions of the 2024 national budget valued at P5.768 trillion.The Senate was the first to ratify the bicameral report which was finalized by the panel Monday morning. The House followed suit.The ratification of the bicameral conference committee report finalizes the 2024 budget at the level of the legislature.Earlier Monday, the bicameral conference committee met again in Makati to approve over 449B in changes to new appropriations---including a new one-time P5,000 cash assistance for the near-poor.&quot;Sa mga bagong programa yung AKAP Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program. Under AKAP, mabibigyan ng ayuda ang mga tinatawag na natin ‘near poor’ na kumikita lang ng P23,000 or less per month. Yan po ang bagiong programa ng ating administratsyon ni Speaker Martin Romualdez Mga 12 million households ang target beneficiaries natin sa programang ‘to which includes construction workers, drivers, factory workers and the like,&quot; House Appropriations chair Rep. Elizaldy Co said.In a separate press release, Co said in the 2024 budget, the House contingent introduced AKAP as a new P60-billion program.House Bill 8980 as approved by the House had over P4.3 trillion in new appropriations, but the bicameral panel added over P1 trillion to some items and took away over P564 billion from other items, for a net change of P449.54 billion. The final bicameral report for new appropriations stands at P4.571 trillion.Both the Senate and the House of Representatives were expected to ratify during their plenary sessions the conference committee report on the disagreeing provisions of their respective versions of the 2024 spending program.Among those unchanged from the House approved version is the budget for the Office of the President at over P10.645 billion and the Office of the Vice President at over P1.874 billion.The bicameral panel sustained the House&#x27;s decision to remove the confidential funds of the Vice President Sara Duterte&#x27;s OVP and Department of Education.Senate Finance Committee Chair Sonny Angara explained that there were no changes to the adjustments made by the House to the confidential funds which had earlier shifted those funds to security agencies.Angara and House Appropriations Committee Chair Elizaldy Co both confirmed there were no restorations of the controversial confidential funds.&quot;This is at the level of the house when the House approved the GAB they passed to the Senate di na namin ginalaw yun,&quot; Angara said.&quot;Nagpapasalamat kami sa Senado tinanggap ho ang aming pakiusap na mga confidential fund ng govt civilian agency nausstain at nasunod po ang House of Representative,&quot; Co said.&quot;Nag-agree po sila pinatunayan nila na walang mangyayari katulad ng haka-haka na may mangyayari sa bicam na maibabalik ang confidential fund especially sa education. Di ho ito nabalik, nasustain yung kagustuhan ng kababayan na iwasan na po itong confidential controversial fund,&quot; Co added.Angara said the Department of Information and Communication Technology was given more funds for cybersecurity, but not as a confidential fund.&quot;It was one of the dialogue points I remember I mentioned that nung tinanong niyo pero nagdagdag kami pero not in the form of CIF but to combat, for cyber security,&quot; Angara said.&quot;Di po nadagdagan yung DICT nakiusap lang sa cyberhacking instead of confidential fund nilagay sa MOOE para transparent para may resibo,&quot; Co explained.Angara said the panel also sustained the proposal of Senator Risa Hontiveros to ban the use of contingent funds as confidential funds.The DepEd however saw an upward funding adjustment of over P3.080 billion. Congress had an increased funding of over P15.038 billion, of which P12.52 billion is for the House of Representatives.State Universities and Colleges gained P25.833 billion of which P2.38 billion is for the University of the Philippines System. The Department of Health saw an increase of P2.4 billion. The Department of Interior and Local Government saw a similar increase. The Department of Justice gained P1.8 billion.The Department of Public Works and Highways gained P173.898 billion. The Department of Social Welfare and Development gained P2.7 billion. The Department of Transportation lost over P97.184 billion. The Judiciary gained P2.387 billion.The Department of National Defense gained P8.42 billion of which P7.6 billion is for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.Angara confirmed that the Defense sector did get more funds in 2024.&quot;Standing order ni Senate President Zubiri tulungan natin yung ating defense forces in light of world events, yung may gyera sa Europa, may giyera sa Middle East. Di naman sa gusto natin magkagyera dito pero gusto natin handa tayo,&quot; Angara said.Special Purpose Funds lost over P126 billion. The Contingent Fund was unchanged at P13 billion. The Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund lost over P36 billion from P65.73 billion to just over P29 billion. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund lost over P500 million to settler at P20.5 million. The Pension and Gratuity Fund lost over P40.25 billion to settle at P142.956 billion.Angara said education is still the top recipient of the budget but that refers to the combined budget of all education-related agencies. Co explained they also put an emphasis on food security.In a separate press release, Co said Congress is allocating P10-billion to support rice farmers through irrigation, free seeds, fertilizers and other farm inputs. Aside from job creation, the seed capital will ensure farmers’ income and lead to production of affordable and high quality local rice, he added.Co also said Congress is also investing P60 billion for large scale irrigation projects like dams, water reservoirs and solar irrigation systems. Aside from rice and irrigation programs, he said Congress is allocating P25 billion to the Department of Agriculture to support other crops that the country produces.The House budget chief explained they also approved a basket of financial assistance, including housing subsidies, aside from the assistance to the near poor.&quot;We put up additional P25-billion na sa Housing para magkaroon tayo ng murang pabahay from P2,500-P3,500 monthly compared sa private developers around P15,000 magiging P2,500-P3,500. Maglagay tayo ng subsidy P10 billion for the 4PH housing para maging mura ang mga monthly bayad ng mga ano, walang interest,&quot; Co said.&quot;Ganun din po sa 2024 yung AICS (assistance to individuals in crisis situations) at 4PS (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) tuloy tuloy po ating mabibigyan po yun ng allocation,&quot; Co added.Co also explained they put more funds in the Philippine General Hospital, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children&#x27;s Medical Center, National Cancer Center, Bicol Regional Medical Center and specialty centers in Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CKgRW2ca14Y?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Senate was the first to ratify the bicameral report which was finalized by the panel Monday morning. The House followed suit.

Congress OKs P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget

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Congress OKs P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 11, 2023 07:29 PM PHT

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