THE bicameral conference panels of the Senate and the House of Representatives successfully agreed Tuesday on the P3.3-trillion national budget for 2017.
Both houses are scheduled to ratify the final report of the bicam for the proposed 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
After the ratification, the committee will transmit the said report to MalacaƱang for approval of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The bicameral committee report was formally signed by Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Loren Legarda and her House counterpart, Representative Karlo Nograles, who chairs the House Appropriation Committee.
Each member of the bicameral conference committee are expected to affix their signatures in the final report before it will be officially transmitted to MalacaƱang.
Meanwhile, Nograles denied allegations of insertion amounting to P8 billion in the budget for legislative districts in the Muslim-dominated provinces in Mindanao.
Nograles maintained that there is no truth in the allegations, as he insisted that the 2017 budget is definitely "pork-free." (Sunnex)