The bicameral conference committee approved the final version of the proposed P6.352 trillion 2025 national budget on Wednesday.

The proposed 2025 national budget is a 10 percent increase from the 2024 P5.768 trillion budget.

Congress also decided to retain the slashed P733 million budget of the Office of the Vice President.

“Whatever we passed in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, the budget was retained,” Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Finance Committee, said.

The bicam report will go to both Houses of Congress which will separately approve this. Then it will be sent to the Office of the President for final approval. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr can still veto certain provisions of the bicam report.

Poe also said that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will have no government subsidy due to its P600 billion reserve funds.

“For now, the PhilHealth was not given a budget (for government subsidy), because they must first use their reserve funds,” Poe said.

“ We can see that they have a lot of money. They need to use that. It’s just wasted…The allotment that was supposed to be given to them will be given to the other departments that need it more,” she said.

In a separate interview, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said that the bicameral conference committee had also retained the P26 billion allocation for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).

Asked about why the P1.2 million wasn’t restored to the Office of the Vice President despite the call of some senators, she replied: “Of course, this is a collegial body. All of us have a wishlist we would like to give. But in the end, it’s the majority who decides.”

“I explained to them that the Office of the Vice President still has a chance to help others. They still a social services allotment worth P600 million for that,” she added.

Romualdez added that the committee increased the daily subsistence allowance of soldiers from P150 to P350. Jaspearl Tan/DMS