SENATE TO BEGIN BUDGET DELIBERATIONS IN AUGUST — SP

By Liza Soriano

MANILA — The Senate will start its budget deliberations in August for the 2025 national budget.

Senate President Chiz Escudero announced that the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) will begin briefings and debates on the 2025 budget on August 13.

“Syempre, we will aim to complete this before the end of the year, including the bicameral conference committee report for the President’s signature. That’s the usual schedule,” the senator said.

He also assured that, as with previous budgets, only agencies with a genuine need for confidential and intelligence funds will receive them.

Given that next year is a midterm election year, Escudero said the Senate will ensure that the budget cannot be used for election campaigns.

The proposed budget for 2025 is PHP 6.352 trillion.

“The DBM proposed a total of PHP 11.39 billion in confidential and intelligence funds for 2025, with PHP 5.22 billion for confidential and PHP 6.17 billion for intelligence. However, we approved PHP 10.29 billion in total, with PHP 4.37 billion allocated for confidential expenses and PHP 5.92 billion for intelligence expenses,” Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said.

(el Amigo/mnm)