The House of Representatives will start on Monday the plenary deliberations on the proposed P2.606-trillion national budget for 2015.
House Majority Leader and Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City said the committee report of the 2015 budget will be presented in plenary for deliberation by the House Committee on Appropriations headed by Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao.
“Budget deliberation will begin on Monday. As a rule, no other committee hearing can be scheduled,” Gonzales said.
According to the lawmaker, the lower chamber has scheduled a Monday-to-Friday plenary discussion of the budget, starting at 10 a.m. He said the budget bill is expected to be passed on second reading on September 26, or before the House takes its three-week break starting September 27.
During the plenary session, the General Appropriations bill (GAB) is expected to be sponsored, presented and defended by the
appropriations committee and sub-committee chairmen. As in all other laws, the GAB is approved on second and third reading before transmission to the Senate. The minority bloc vowed to closely scrutinize the proposed 2015 budget and to block provisions that would be used to support the administration’s 2016 election campaign.
According to Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, the proposed P2.606-trillion proposed budget is in fulfillment of the Aquino administration’s commitment to further facilitate rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth in the country.
Abad said the 2015 proposed budget is 15.1 percent higher from the current year’s P2.265-trillion budget, 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, Abad said social services continue to take the lion’s share of the proposed 2015 budget, attesting to the administration’s continuing pursuit of its antipoverty 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,” he said.
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 its Universal Health Care and Conditional-Cash Transfer programs, according to Abad.
Meanwhile, Abad said 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. At least P339.4 billion in funds will go toward various infrastructure programs, including the construction of national roads and integrated transport systems nationwide,” Abad said.
Meanwhile, the Top 10 departments in terms of budget are the Department of Education, P364.958 billion; the Department of Public Works and Highways, P300.519 billion; the Department of National Defense, P144.036 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P141.423 billion; the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P108.970 billion; the Department of Health, P102.178 billion; the Department of Agriculture, P88.818 billion; the Department of Transportation and Communications, P59.463 billion; the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P21.290 billion; and Judiciary, P20.285 billion.