THE Senate approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 10373 that will extend the validity of the 2021 national budget.
All 22 senators present in the plenary session voted in favor of the bill.
Under House Bill No. 10373, government agencies are given permission to spend the funds for their programs and projects that they will not be able to finish this year up to December 31, 2022.
If there was no extension, the remaining unused funds will be returned to the national treasury.
Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said earlier that there is a need to extend the use of funds since there were many incomplete projects this year because of the pandemic.
Among these include some infrastructure projects and programs under the Department of Health in order to ramp up the capacity of hospitals.