The Senate approved on Tuesday the proposed PHP 5.768-trillion 2024 national budget on the third and final reading.
The 2024 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) received 21-0 votes and one abstention from Senate Minority Leader Aquilino 'Koko' Pimentel due to his objection to the certification of GAB as urgent.
Following this, the Senate and the House of Representatives will now reconcile the differences in both versions of the spending bill.
Once reconciled, the final version of the GAB will be ratified in the House of Representatives and the Senate then it will be sent to Malacañang for the President's review and approval.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. may be signing the P5.7 trillion budget for 2024 by mid-December, before his international travel to Japan from December 16 to 18.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), meanwhile, emphasized that the budget for next year is 9.5% higher than the budget allotted for this year, saying that it is equivalent to 21.7% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
