THE House of Representatives on Monday resumed its deliberations of the 2027 National Expenditure Program.
To be simultaneously evaluated are the spending plans of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Justice (DOJ), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Committee hearings started last Aug. 17, with House leaders setting a 53-day timeline to approve the General Appropriations Bill by October.
Deliberations were halted last week because of heavy monsoon rains and floods in Metro Manila and several provinces.
House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III has said the proposed P7.2 trillion budget will undergo strict scrutiny.
This was echoed by House Assistant Minority Leader and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co, who called for a thorough committee-level study of the proposed 2027 budgets of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and nine other executive offices.
Co urged the House Committee on Appropriations to include the agencies in its deliberations, saying that their budgets should not bypass committee review and go directly to plenary.
“These are agencies are facing public scrutiny because of various issues on their performance and programs,” Co said, citing the BCDA’s Pax Silica issue, the SBMA’s US e-waste controversy and mining consent issues involving the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
The other offices Co wants subjected to committee-level review are the Anti-Money Laundering Council, Climate Change Commission, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Council, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
