(Eagle News)—The Senate and the House of Representatives will meet on Monday, March 25, to thresh out the contentious issues over the proposed national budget.
It was unclear who exactly would meet whom but Speaker Gloria Arroyo earlier designated House appropriations chair Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman to speak with senators about the proposed national budget.
The meeting will take place days after the House officially withdrew its version of the General Appropriations Bill, which the Senate had assailed for containing what it said were realignments made by congressmen after both houses of Congress ratified the same.
Andaya had said they were mere itemizations that allow for the bill to be easily scrutinized.
The withdrawal of the House-enrolled bill took place after Andaya announced Speaker Gloria Arroyo’s directive for the same in a bid to break the long-standing impasse between the two houses of Congress that has put in peril the government’s projects for 2019.
The government has been operating on a reenacted budget in the absence of a 2019 General Appropriations Act.
President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of the dangers of operating on last year’s budget, but added he would not sign an “illegal document.”
