Palace submits proposed P2.6-T budget to Congress

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday submitted to Congress its proposed national budget for 2015, which amounted to P2.6 trillion.

The Aquino administration's proposed expenditure program for next year is 15.1 percent higher than the P2.265-trillion budget of 2014 and represents 18.4 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who submitted the budget to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, said the proposed spending program aims to bring inclusive socio-economic development to Filipinos.

"[W]e're working harder at bringing inclusive growth to the country through transparent, accountable, and participatory budgeting," Abad said in a statement.

Social services will still take the lion's share of the proposed 2015 budget with an allocation of P967.9 billion. Social protection and welfare services, including basic education and universal health care, account for 37.1 percent of the proposed expenditure program.

Economic services will receive P700.2 billion or 27 percent of the expenditure program for the next fiscal year. At least P339.4 billion will go to various infrastructure programs, including the construction of national roads and integrated transport systems nationwide.

Among the departments, the Department of Education will get the biggest allocation with P364.9 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways with P300.5 billion and the Department of National Defense with P144 billion.

Abad said the present challenge for the government is to make public spending more efficient, especially in the wake of the calamities last year.

"Thousands of Filipinos are still recovering from the effects of Super Typhoon Yolanda and other disasters that struck the country in 2013, and this budget—in line with the Administration’s Philippine Development Plan—will carefully account for these communities' needs," Abad said.