Quisumbing to lead budget briefs

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu sixth district Representative Luis Gabriel Quisumbing will preside over the briefings and deliberations on the 2015 budget for the Department of Finance and the National Economic and Development Authority.

This after the Committee on Appropriations in Congress has already received the proposed 2015 National Budget from the Department of Budget and Management.

DBM Secretary Florencio Abad personally handed the proposed national budget to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Committee on Appropriations Chairman Isidro Ungab and his vice chairmen, including Quisumbing, during a simple turnover ceremony last Wednesday afternoon at the House of Representatives. 

As a vice chair of the Committee on Appropriations, Quisumbing will lead the deliberation on the allocations for DOF and NEDA for next year, including their attached agencies and other executive agencies Anti-Money Laundering Council, Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation,  Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, Philippine Center for Economic Development and Credit Information Corp.

Quisumbing said the proposed budget is P2.61 trillion, 15 percent higher than this year's P2.265 trillion budget. The budget proposal is “crafted based on the following frameworks: social protection and social services, economic expansion, job creation and livelihood development and climate change and disaster risk reduction.”

“I am hopeful that Congress will pass the budget on time, as it did in the past years. This administration is committed to the fight against poverty and the realization of a better quality of life for every Filipino,” said Quisumbing in a statement.

According to the Cebuano legislator, the budget has components that will address priority development issues like an increased allocation for the national health insurance program from P35.3 billion to P37.2 billion; conditional cash transfer program from P62.6 billion to P78 billion to cover the increase in beneficiaries from 4.3 million households to five million households, and for educational facilities from P44.6 billion to P52.7 billion.

In job generation, the proposed budget for national roads and bridges is increased from P130.4 billion to P186.6 billion; and for tourism infrastructure development from P14.7 billion to P20 billion.

In addition, in the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, the national government proposes an increase in the allocation for flood control and drainage projects of P38.6 billion from P34.8 billion. (FREEMAN)