THE House of Representatives will start today, Monday, the plenary deliberations of President Duterte’s proposed P3.35- trillion national budget for 2017.
National Unity Party Rep. Karlo Alexi Nograles of Davao City, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the lower chamber is eyeing to approve the 2017 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on third and final reading by the third week of October.
“We will begin the two-week marathon deliberations—from Monday to Friday—to approve this by third week of next month and transmit this to the Senate,” Nograles said.
On the first day of plenary consideration of the Duterte administration’s “budget for real change,” Nograles, Appropriations Committee Vice Chairmen Rep. Joey S. Salceda of Albay and Nacionalista Party Rep. LRay Villafuerte of Camarines Sur will sponsor the 2017 GAB.
Villafuerte will sponsor the Department of Finance and its attached agencies, the budget of Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and government Commission for Government-owned and -controlled corporations.
Salceda will sponsor the National Economic Development Authority and its attached agencies.
For his part, House Majority Floor Leader and PDP-Laban Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said the Congress will ratify the national budget before it takes a break in December.
“We will pass the General Appropriations Bill in time for the President to sign it into the General Appropriations Act on or before we adjourn on December 14. This will be the first National Expenditure Program of President Rody and we will see his priorities for his first year in office,” Fariñas said.
Meanwhile, Nograles said he does not foresee any major change in the National Expenditure Program or the proposed 2017 national budget submitted by Malacañang to the Congress.
“I’m hoping our colleagues recognize the urgent need to have a solid expenditure program to finance the president’s reform agenda, and allow a smooth and trouble-free approval of the national budget,” Nograles said.
The Duterte administration’s P3.35-trillion “budget for real change” for 2017 focuses on social and economic services.
Of the P3.35 trillion, 40.14 percent, or P1.34 trillion, will be for empowering human resources through education, health care, social welfare and other social services.
The P923 billion is for economic services to fix broken infrastructure network, boost agriculture and rural sector, and generate more jobs and livelihood.
For general public services and defense, the government will allocate 22 percent, or P729 billion, of its total budget.
The 2017 budget is higher by 11.6 percent than the current year’s budget of P3.002 trillion. As a percentage of GDP, the 2017 budget represents 20.4 percent compared this year’s 20.1 percent of GDP.
By department and special-purpose allocations, the top 10 are: Department of Education with P567.7 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways with P458.6 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government with P150 billion; Department of National Defense with P134 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development with P129.9 billion; Department of Health with P94 billion; State Universities and Colleges with P58.8 billion; Department of Transportation with P55.4 billion; Department of Agriculture P45.2 billion; and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with P41.7 billion.