THE House of Representatives will pass the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget for next year on October 29, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations said on Sunday.
Liberal Party Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao, chairman of the committee, in a text message, said the majority of the lawmakers is expected to approve the House Bill 4968, or the 2015 General Appropriations Bill, on third and final reading on October 29 and immediately transmit the maeasure to the Senate for its own deliberations.
“We can’t have it passed tomorrow [October 20, resumption of the session]. The committee only finished its tasked last Thursday and the staff are still encoding the amendments. We also have to give allowance for printing. Our target date for third reading is on October 29 [before the Congress’ All Saints Day break],” he said.
The Congress will take another two-week break from November 1 to 16. Ungab reiterated the proposed 2015 budget does not contain provisions similar to the voided pork-barrel fund.
He also said the proposed P2.606- trillion allocation for next year is in “fulfillment of the Aquino administration’s commitment to further facilitate rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth in the country.”
The 2015 budget is 15.1 percent higher than the current year’s P2.265 trillion, representing 18.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and reflecting the jump in the administration’s growth assumption of 7 percent to 8 percent for 2015.
Per sectoral allocation, social services continue to take the lion’s share of the proposed 2015 budget, attesting to the administration’s continuing pursuit of its anti-poverty goals. Social protection and welfare services—which include the provision of basic education and universal health care—account for 37.1 percent of the proposed expenditure program, with P967.9 billion now devoted to the sector.
The social-services budget is 15- percent, higher than the P841.8 billion that currently supports social services under the 2014 National Budget, and will allow the administration to strengthen its K to 12 program, as well as the Universal Health and Conditional Cash-Transfer programs.
Meanwhile, economic services are still a major mover in the President’s inclusive growth campaign, with the 2015 proposed budget directing P700.2 billion toward this sector. This comprises 4.9 percent of the country’s GDP and accounts for 27 percent of the expenditure program for the next fiscal year.