MANILA, Philippines – After getting the bulk of their budget this year, agencies were called on to submit their budget proposals for the P3.825 trillion outlay for 2018.
“The budget call is being issued to require agencies to submit their...budget proposals,” National Budget Memorandum 127 dated Dec. 28 stated.
Under the medium-term plan, the proposed 2018 outlay will amount to P3.825 trillion, up 14.2 percent from P3.35 trillion this year.
With yesterday being the first working day of 2017, agencies received the bulk of their budget with the General Appropriations Act acting as release document.
This means they may now enter into obligations to fast track spending under the Duterte administration’s pledge to pump prime the economy.
For the 2018 outlay, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) told agencies to “incorporate” the government’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda in crafting their proposals.
They were also instructed to ensure “acceleration of infrastructure spending” to five percent of economic output.
“Provide full support to the poorest, lagging and most climate vulnerable areas,” the memorandum stated.
“Strengthen (monitoring and evaluation) through result-based monitoring, evaluation and reporting policy framework,” it added.
The proposals will be evaluated in two tiers, with the first one determining each agency’s budget caps or the highest amount they may ask in their proposal.
By law, however, the Department of Education gets the highest amount in the budget.
In crafting their outlays under Tier 1, agencies were reminded to consider the “fiscal space.” Tier 1 will only consider existing and continuing projects.
After evaluation, the proposed budget will undergo Tier 2 checking, during which new agency programs will be examined.
Agencies have until the end of January to submit their budget requests to DBM, while budget caps will be released by March 31.
For the past six years, the budget process starts immediately after the passage of the last one in order to finish before the year ends.
Failure to pass the budget on time will result in new programs getting no funding at the change of the year.
The 2017 budget was signed into law on Dec. 22.