Press Release
December 12, 2019

Statement of Senator Joel Villanueva as Senate Ratifies 2020 Budget

The Senate on Wednesday ratified the proposed 2020 budget after members of the Upper and Lower Houses have signed the reconciled version of the appropriations law during the Bicameral Conference Committee Meeting.

We are grateful for the leadership and members of the panel of both Houses for the timely submission of the budget.

We are hopeful that the budget will continue to strengthen programs that will address job-skills mismatch, as well as expand the scholarship programs for unemployed and existing workers through Tulong Trabaho Fund which was established under Republic Act No. 11230, a law that we championed during the 17th Congress.

We are also optimistic that the 2020 budget will further strengthen research and innovation in our state universities and colleges, by incentivizing our students and faculty members to engage in research.

In addition, the bigger budget of the Department of Science and Technology will hopefully translate to more market-ready technologies as the DOST's Biotek-M Dengue Aqua Kit which helps detect dengue infection in an hour or less.

Lastly, we are also hopeful that the 2020 budget will provide further protection to our workers here and abroad like the on-site welfare service for our OFWs and OWWA's emergency repatriation program for distressed OFWs.

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