Davao City Third District Representative Isidro Ungab confirmed that budget insertions is getting bigger.
This came about after the recent approval of the bicameral conference committee of the final version of House Bill No. 10800 or the proposed P6.352 trillion 2025 national budget.
“This year’s budget naglampas pa ug another P449 billion and next year 2025 nag additional ng another P373 billion,” Ungab said in Basta Dabawenyo podcast on Sunday.
Ungab said that there were insertions done before but only small adjustments and amounts.
“Ginahimo na kaniadto nga naay insertions pero gagmay lang nga adjustments and amounts, gamayng problema sa figures. Karon lang ning nagadako ug nagadako, in fact, they even went beyond what was proposed by the executive department. In the past few years, among nabantayan nga naa na’y bag-ong insertions gyud nga nahitabo sa bicameral conference committee, which becomes a third house, naa’y lower house, upper house, and the bicameral conference committee that has its own proposals and insertions,” Ungab said.
Ungab said the bicameral conference committee inserted their priority pet projects and requested to be accommodated over the original priority projects in the government that passed approval from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Regional Development Council (RDC), and Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC), which were transferred to unprogrammed funds.
“It’s unfair for those plans and programs and projects nga miagi gyud sa proseso sa RDC, then pasa sa NEDA, then niabot sa DBCC. Ang gipuli (programs and projects) ng bicameral conference committee wala miagi sa RDC and NEDA and becomes an insertion,” he added.
Ungab, former chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives (HoR), explained the process of how the House approves a proposed budget.
He said the budget was prepared by the National Expenditure Program (NEP) and submitted to the HoR then will undergo a first reading, then budget hearings will be conducted by the Committee on Appropriations.
