Marcos to sign 2024 national budget this week

FILE: BUSINESS TRIP. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers his departure statement at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on Friday (Dec. 15, 2023) before flying to Tokyo, Japan. Marcos is attending the 50th Commemorative ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Summit. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to sign into law within the week the PHP5.76-trillion 2024 national budget, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said on Monday.

“It’s ready for [signing], I think, [on] Wednesday. Wednesday na ata ‘yung signing po (I think the signing is on Wednesday),” Romualdez told reporters in Tokyo on Monday.

Romualdez said Marcos initially planned to sign the national budget into law before leaving for Japan.

He clarified however that there were still some printing requirements needed before the President could sign the national outlay document.

Marcos is set to return to Manila from Japan Monday after his participation in the 50th Commemorative of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Summit.

Last week, the Senate and the House of Representatives ratified the proposed 2024 budget.

The proposed 2024 budget, which is equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, is 9.5 percent higher compared to the PHP5.268 trillion 2023 budget.