Congress receives P3.8-T budget proposal on SONA day

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives received yesterday from President Duterte the proposed P3.8-trillion national budget for 2018 – the first time such document was submitted by a president on the same day as the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, appropriations committee chairman, told reporters that his panel would start hearings on the outlay next Tuesday.

He said he would invite the administration’s economic managers to brief the committee on the assumptions they used in putting together the budget proposal.

He said he expected the House to approve the proposed outlay on second reading by October.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said yesterday it was the first time the budget was presented on the day of the SONA itself.

During the previous administration, then president Benigno Aquino III submitted the proposed spending program a day after his SONA.

There was delayed submission during former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s watch. In fact, several budgets were recycled due to the failure of Congress to approve the spending bill before yearend.

According to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the 2018 budget is 12.4 percent or nearly P500 billion higher than this year’s P3.35 trillion.

The proposed budget will continue to support the bold plans of the Duterte administration and deliver the change the President has promised, the DBM said.

The education sector would continue to get the highest budget allocation with a total of P691.1 billion (Department of Education, P613.05 billion; Commission on Higher Education, P13.5 billion; state universities and colleges, P64.6 billion).

The Department of Public Works and Highways would get the second biggest allocation with P643.3 billion, followed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P172.3 billion; Department of Health (including health insurance), P164.3 billion; Department of National Defense (including military), P145 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P138 billion; Department of Transportation, P73.8 billion; and Department of Agriculture, P54.2 billion.

In terms of allocation by sector, the DBM said social services would receive the biggest slice of the national budget, followed by economic services, defense, general public services and debt service.