THE Department of Finance (DoF) is urging lawmakers to pass the 2020 national budget after the government underspent by P178 billion in the first half of the year.

“We encourage the legislature to pass the budget on time after due deliberations, as the consequences of operating on a reenacted budget, as what happened this year, are extremely detrimental to the nation, [especially] the disadvantaged,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd told reporters in a message on Tuesday.