House-approved 2022 budget is responsive to people’s needs, Speaker says

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco hailed the lower chamber’s passage on third and final reading of the P5.024-trillion proposed 2022 national budget on Thursday, September 30.

The House of Representatives made good on its self-imposed deadline for approving the 2022 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) by September 30, with President Duterte certifying the measure as urgent and allowing the legislative department to expedite it.

“The swift and smooth passage of the proposed 2022 national budget shows our collective commitment and resolve to help our kababayan (countrymen) and economy to build back better, and hasten economic recovery through the effective delivery of government services,” Velasco said in his closing speech before the House adjourned sessions Thursday night for a month-long break.

“During this budget season, we have committed and we have delivered a budget responsive to the needs of our people,” he told his colleagues.

A total of 238 congressmen voted for the approval of the House Bill No. 10153, while six voted against it.

The House-approved bill, however, has yet to include the amendments to be proposed by the members of the chamber as it breezed through the period of amendments.

Instead, in their rush to pass the budget measure, the lawmakers decided to form a small committee that would collate the individual amendments of the House members for possible inclusion in the final copy of the HB 10153.

This was similar to the Lower House’s practice when it passed the 2021 budget last year.

The small committee would have House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, House Committee on Appropriarions chairman Eric Go-Yap, and Reps. Joey Salceda, Stella Quimbo and Edcel Lagman.

They gave their colleagues until October 5 to submit their proposed amendments.

“In the end, we have collectively moved to make a difference for our country. Ito ang budget ng bayan, para sa bayan (This is the budget of the country, for the country),” Velasco, a known ally of the President, said.

Before the chamber’s final approval of the budget bill, several members of the minority expressed concerns and reservations about the inadequacy of funds for COVID-19 response under the proposed 2022 budget.

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