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Budgeting process: Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III raises his concern on the budgeting process of the legislative branch following the bicameral conference committee (bicam) report on the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024 Monday, December 11, 2023. Pimentel said the unprogrammed appropriations had increased by roughly P450 billion from the original proposal made by the President in the amount of P281.9 billion. “The original proposal of the President was P281.9 billion but the ending is P731.4 billion or an increase roughly of P450 billion as a result of the bicam meetings. It’s close to tripling the proposed unprogrammed appropriations by the executive. May we know what happened?,” Pimentel asked. Sen. Sonny Angara, chairperson of the Committee on Finance, said the main reason for the increase was to carve out a fiscal space in the programmed appropriations for other items that were proposed by both senators and congressmen. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)