House of Representatives to transmit 2021 budget to Senate before deadline

MANILA— The House of Representatives will transmit its version of the P4.506 trillion General Appropriations Bill 2021 to the Senate on Tuesday, one day before the promised date, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said.

Velasco previously said that he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III agreed on a deadline for October 28.

“This record budget was designed to further strengthen the government response and stimulate economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic,” it said in a statement.

“We increased the allocation for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines by more than three times to cover more Filipinos. We also provided an additional allocation for the Department of Health’s facility improvement program to help improve the nation’s health care system. “

The legislators of the House of Representatives approved the spending bill in final reading on October 17, after President Rodrigo Duterte certified it as urgent and only days after the election of Velasco and the removal of the representative of Taguig -Pateros Alan Peter Cayetano as president.

A power dispute between the two – Cayetano had wanted to extend his tenure as head of the House despite a shared term agreement with Velasco – had jeopardized the timely approval of the spending bill.

– Report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News