THE House of Representatives will start plenary deliberations on the proposed P5.768 trillion 2024 national budget on Tuesday.

Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said on Sunday that the House was on track to expeditiously approve the budget before the congressional recess that was scheduled to start later this month.

He said that the House would send the national budget bill to the Senate upon approval.

“We will work morning and afternoon and on Thursday and Friday this week to meet our timeline. The national spending bill is the single most important piece of legislation Congress passes every year,” Romualdez said in a statement.

He added that the measure “will support the President’s prosperity and economic recovery roadmap.”

The plenary debates on Tuesday will start with sponsorship speeches, followed by debates on general principles and provisions and consideration of the budgets of the Department of Finance, Department of Tourism, and National Economic and Development Authority, as well as of certain offices under the Office of the President (OP).

Scheduled for plenary consideration on Wednesday were the 2024 budgets of the Office of the Ombudsman, Commission on Elections, Commission on Human Rights, Department of National Defense, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, and more OP agencies.

Scheduled for plenary consideration on Thursday were the 2024 budgets of the judiciary, Department of Justice, Department of Agrarian Reform, Presidential Communications Office, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, and state universities and colleges.

Those scheduled for plenary consideration on Friday included the budgets of Congress, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Migrant Workers, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The budgets of the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, and other OP agencies were scheduled for plenary consideration on September 25.

On September 26, the budgets of the OP, Office of the Vice President, Department of Education, other OP agencies, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources will be tackled.

The next day, the budgets of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Transportation, and Department of Budget and Management will be discussed.