The House Committee on Appropriation chaired by Davao Rep. Karlo Nograles has started formal preparations for the actual committee consideration of President Duterte’s proposed P3.767-Trillion 2018 national expenditure program.
“It will be a hectic August for the Committee as we aim to finish and file our Committee Report (CR) on the proposed 2018 General Appropriations Act by August 30,” Chairman Nograles revealed.
Nograles however said that while his panel is committed in ensuring the speedy approval of the 2018 national expenditure program, “there will be no shortcuts in their effort to scrutinize every single allocation and every single centavo that is contained in the proposed GAA.
“We will be fast just like last year without sacrificing prudence in the use of public funds. We will look into the budget down to the smallest detail in order to make sure that that all allocations are realistic and every centavo would be well spent in improving the life of our people,” Nograles said.
As per schedule, committee preparations of the still unnumbered bill containing the National Expenditure Program for 2018 has already started, just 24 hours following formal submission by the President during his State of the Nation Address on July 24th.
“We are all anxious and ready to tackle the most important law on which the successful operations of all government departments, agencies and institutions depend,” Nograles pointed out.
Actual committee briefings and hearings on the 1st reading copy of the proposed national budget actually start on August 1 until August 24, after which a Committee Report will be prepared. The said CR will again be reviewed by the Appropriations panel for approval of possible amendments introduced during committee deliberations before final committee approval of the report.
Following the President’s formal submission to Congress, the proposed national budget bill will be calendared by the Committee on Rules headed by the Majority Leader for plenary first reading before formally being referred to the Appropriations Committee for actual consideration.
Nograles is fervently hoping that the proposed national budget, as a certified urgent measure, will be approved on second and final reading by the House plenary anywhere between September 8 to 14, 2017.
“We will have to allot time for printing the voluminous budgetary documents before we transmit it to the Senate by September 21,” Nograles said, confident that the Senate will also go full-throttle on the measure which hopefully could be signed into law by the President by November 15, 2017. | HOR-PR
