00:00To fix the different version of the 2025 National Budget of the Senate and the House of Representatives,
00:08the Bicameral Conference Committee was formed by a technical working group in their first meeting a while ago.
00:15Senate President Chief Escudero confirmed that the President will be given the budget before the Christmas break of the Congress.
00:23Ma'am Gonzales was there.
00:26At the start of the first meeting of the Bicameral Conference Committee, senators and congressmen were reminded.
00:35Let's keep things practical and straightforward. We don't need to overcomplicate this.
00:41My only plea is for us, conferees, not to take ourselves too seriously.
00:47If the discussion is too heated, we might need to have a coffee break to settle our differences.
00:54The committee agreed to unify the different versions of the 2025 National Budget of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
01:02Some of the discussions in the Bicameral Conference Committee included the reduction of the budget of the Office of the Vice President
01:09and the removal of the assistance to the Post-Angkita Program or ACAP that was helped by House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
01:17Actually, there are just a few major differences there. You heard about ACAP, for example.
01:25How do you confirm the ACAP? What will be the contentiousness of this?
01:30Well, we are on the same page with the other initiatives.
01:38For now, let's just wait and see what will be the difference.
01:43Because, of course, you will be able to divide the two.
01:47Last year, the ACAP fund became an issue.
01:51Some senators said that they did not know that congressmen entered the fund.
01:56Senator Bato de la Rosa urged them to give them time to review the final version of the budget.
02:02Before we sign the Bicam report, please give us enough time to read over again and check for everything, Madam Chair.
02:14Before we sign, so we won't look stupid.
02:17Yes, Senator de la Rosa, this has been the commitment of your Chairman of Finance as well as our Senate President.
02:26Earlier, a technical working group was formed to fix the differences in the version of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
02:33Senate President Cheese Escudero assured that they will give the President the preliminary budget before the Christmas break of the Congress.
02:40It's a long and complicated issue. I expect that it will still be on schedule for the coming week.
02:45Before we adjourn for the Christmas break, this will be completed.
02:50The conference panel will be strong.
02:54For GMA Integrated News, Maev Gonzalez, for Tutok, 24 Hours.
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