THE chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations said the lower chamber will approve on second reading on Wednesday President Duterte’s proposed P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017.
National Unity Party Rep. Karlo Alexi Nograles of Davao City, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said lawmakers will terminate the period of interpellations and approve the 2017 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on Wednesday and pass it on third and final reading by November.
“Hopefully, by Wednesday we are going to approve the national budget on second reading. This will be passed on third and final reading after our Halloween break [or on November 7] ,” Nograles said.
Nacionalista Party Rep. LRay Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations who defended the P21.3-billion budget of the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies for 2017, said the national budget will push the inclusive growth under President Duterte’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.
Villafuerte said the DOF’s budget will play a pivotal role in helping the Duterte administration implement programs designed to lift 10 million Filipinos out of poverty and transform the Philippines into an upper middle-income country by 2022.