House endorses P21.3-B DOF budget

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives yesterday endorsed the P21.3-billion 2017 budget of the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, who defended the DOF outlay as appropriations subcommittee vice chairman, said the department and its agencies are important government offices, as they are in charge of collecting revenues.

He said the two vital revenue collection agencies are under the DOF, namely, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“If government were a business, investing in the Department of Finance is like investing in a revenue center that allows this business to pursue its objectives and value-adding activities. The DOF is tasked with the difficult role of generating revenues, managing debt and government corporations, and managing assets, in order to fund critical social services,” he said.

The total budget of the DOF and its attached agencies for 2017 will go up 16 percent from this year’s P18.413 billion.

Among the attached agencies, the BIR has the largest funding with P8.6 billion, while BOC will get P3.6 billion.

The allocation of the Bureau of Treasury would go up 288 percent to P6.461 billion owing to capital subscriptions in foreign financial institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

On the other hand, the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission would amount to P646 million, up slightly from this year’s P635 million.

The remaining five DOF-attached agencies - Bureau of Local Government Finance, Central Board of Assessment Appeals, National Tax Research Center, Privatization Management Office, and Insurance Commission – would have a combined budget of P387.6 million in 2017.