The House Minority bloc has vowed to thoroughly scrutinize the proposed P4.506-trillion national budget for 2021 to ensure that every peso in the government’s spending plan will benefit all Filipinos, particularly the poor, the disadvantaged, and vulnerable sectors.

House Minority Leader Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. assured the public that the opposition lawmakers will do their part in dissecting the 2021 national budget which is higher than this year’s budget by 9.9 percent and is equivalent to 21.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"At first glance, the budget appears to have its priorities in order. But, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details -- and it is the duty of every legislator, not just those in the Minority, to pore over these details and make sure that every peso in that budget redounds to the benefit of our constituents,” he said in a virtual press briefing.

He said while the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) theme for next year’s budget is “Reset, Rebound, and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability,” their group also adopted a “theme” on the budget process.

"When it comes to the budget deliberations, the Minority will be guided by this theme: 'Review, Reassess, and Reallocate',” he said.

Abante said they "are duty-bound to review the budget, reassess the priorities and line items, if necessary, and reallocate funds to other programs and projects that we believe require additional financial resources.”

But this does not mean we will not cooperate with efforts to pass the budget as fast as humanly possible, he said.

“If the pandemic is the rationale behind fast-tracking the budget, it is also the rationale behind making sure that every centavo the government spends is spent the right way, for the programs that we genuinely need, for the sectors that need them the most,” Abante said.