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On bicam deliberation: Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, during Tuesday’s hearing of the Committee on Finance, August 13, 2024 on the proposed P6.352 trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2025, recommends the return to the original practice of a full face-to-face meeting and deliberation of all members of the bicameral conference committee. Hontiveros also asked that the full bicam report, including how it deviates from the Senate version of the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), should be made available to all senators before it is reported to the plenary by the committee. The deputy minority leader made the manifestation after she observed that a big chunk of the budget in the NEP 2024 was removed from the programmed appropriations. She cited the P70 billion budget for flood control projects that was realigned to unprogrammed appropriations. “I hope we do not make this mistake again of de-prioritizing hundreds of billions of funds proposed by the President and already approved by both the House and the Senate,” Hontiveros stressed. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)