00:00Tomorrow, the Bicameral Conference Committee will roll out the Php 6.3 Trillion Proposed 2025 National Budget
00:10after it passed the Senate and the House of Representatives.
00:13As of now, the Fund of the Office of the Vice President is still in place.
00:18And the controversial Acap or Ayuda sa Kapos Ang Kita Program
00:24was first introduced in another sector.
00:26It was led by Mau Gonzales.
00:31There was no discussion in the plenary on how to pass the 2025 National Budget in the Senate last night.
00:37In the caucus or private discussion, they just arranged the amendments that the Senators wanted.
00:42In the end, 18 Senators voted in favor of the Php 6.352 Trillion National Budget
00:48while Senate Minority Leader Coco Pimentel abstained.
00:52The budget of the Office of the Vice President remained at Php 733 Million
00:57after the Camera asked for Php 2 Billion from the OVP.
01:01But according to some Senators, there was a long discussion yesterday if this will be added.
01:06Senate Committee on Finance Chair Senator Grace Po explained that this is enough for the Office to run.
01:12There are also redundant programs from the OVP
01:15and no one is asking for additional funds so they did not increase it.
01:19But Po clarified that they are not closed to the possibility of changing the budget of the Bicameral Conference Committee.
01:26We know that when it comes to the Bicam, they already have a formal request and written letter
01:32that they want because they really need these programs.
01:37But we made sure that they have the ability to still do their mandate.
01:44One of the ones who pushed for the increase of the OVP budget is Senator Bato de la Rosa
01:49but he followed the will of the Senate Leader.
01:52We need mercy. Justification is not needed.
01:56We respect the leadership of the Senate.
01:59That's it.
02:01Let's not fight because we don't want our institution to be disturbed.
02:09Me, Joel Villanueva, Senator Mungo, Senator Villanueva, Senator Aimee, and many more.
02:19We try to make adjustments.
02:23In the Bicam, they will also talk about the controversial ACAP
02:26or Ayuda sa Kaposangkita program that is being pushed by congressmen.
02:30But in the version of the Senate, 39 billion pesos was removed for this
02:35because they still have a lot of questions about this.
02:38Who are the recipients of ACAP? What are the criterias for it?
02:44The proposal of Senator Aimee, Vice-Chair of Finance for DSWD,
02:48is enlarged to DSWD-IX, right?
02:53So okay, we can hear in the House why it can't be done and why it's not more effective.
03:00The fund for ACAP was put by the Senate in the pension of senior citizens,
03:04livelihood programs of farmers, child care assistants, and others.
03:10The Bicam will start soon, where the Senate and the House will discuss
03:13their version of the 2025 National Budget before it is signed by the President.
03:18For GMA Integrated News, Mav Gonzales, for Tutok, 24 Hours.
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