House Ways and Means Chair and Appropriations Vice Chair Joey Sarte Salceda confirmed that the bicameral conference committee has approved the proposed ₱4.5-trillion budget for 2021.

According to Salceda, both chambers of Congress are expected to ratify the budget measure on Wednesday. Once done, it will be up to President Rodrigo Duterte to decide.

Since it was passed ahead of schedule, Salceda is positive that they will not encounter any delays.

“The ball will be in the President’s court early, so there is almost no risk that we will face a delayed budget enactment this year. That can only mean well for 2021 economic recovery,” he said on Wednesday.

“The early passage of the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA), along with the expected adoption of CREATE by the House later today, will be strong foundations of our 2021 bounceback. With these reforms done, we can focus on economic relief and the vaccine rollout,” Salceda added.

Adding P300 billion to the infrastructure sector, Salceda explained that the funding was drafted during the early days of COVID-19.

“I had conversations with the economic managers. We came up with four agreements. First was an increase for infra spending by around P275 billion. That materialized. Second, the rollout of credit measures that will activate P551 billion in credit stimulus. Third, to set 9.0% as the growth target for 2021. And fourth, to have a third or even fourth stimulus package,” he shared.

“This was a conversation we had in April. In retrospect, that conversation was prescient. Government should have been more aggressive with encouraging credit and bridging borrowers with lenders. We should still push for another round of economic relief. And we should not concede the growth targets for next year,” Salceda said.

The 2021 budget also seeks to allocate funding for the post-COVID life. This includes P203 billion for health care and P7.6 billion for items on telecommunications enhancements.