PRESIDENT Duterte recently certified as urgent the 2017 proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA), a leader of the House of Representatives said on Sunday.
After the Palace’s certification, Majority Leader and PDP-Laban Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas of Ilocos Norte said the P3.35-trillion national budget will be passed on third and final reading on Wednesday or before Congress goes on Halloween break.
“The President has certified as urgent the 2017 proposed GAA. We will approve on third and final reading the 2017 General Appropriations bill on Wednesday before Congress adjourns,” Fariñas said in a text message.
“Thus, it will be transmitted to the Senate during our break and ready for its consideration when we resume session on November 7,” the majority leader said.
The proposed 2017 “budget for real change” was supposedly scheduled for approval when session resumes on November 7.
House Committee on Appropriations Chairman and National Unity Party Rep. Karlo Alexi Nograles of Davao City said there is no major change in the National Expenditure Program, or the proposed 2017 national budget, submitted by Malacañang to Congress.
Of the P3.35 trillion, 40.14 percent, or P1.34 trillion, will be for empowering human resources through education, health care, social welfare and other social services.
The 27.6 percent, or P923 billion, is for economic services to fix broken infrastructure network, boost agriculture and the rural sector, and generate more jobs and livelihood.
The government will allocate 22 percent, or P729 billion, of its total budget ftor general public services and defense.
The 2017 budget is higher by 11.6 percent than the current year’s budget of P3.002 trillion. As a percentage of GDP, the 2017 budget represents 20.4 percent compared to this year’s 20.1 percent of GDP.
The total revenue next year is expected to reach P2.48 trillion, or around 10 percent more than the government target to collect this year. It is equivalent to 15.6 percent of GDP.
The national government budget deficit next year is expected at 3 percent of GDP, or P478.1 billion. This shortfall is funded through borrowings. The total borrowings in 2017 will reach P631.3 billion.
The GDP is expected to grow by 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2017 through the sustained expansion of the services and industry sectors, and the expected rebound of the agriculture sector.
By department and special purpose allocations, the Top 10 allocations are for the Department of Education (DepEd), P567.7 billion; the Department of Public Works and Highways, P458.6 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P150 billion; the Department of National Defense, P134 billion; the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P129.9 billion; the Department of Health, P94 billion; state universities and colleges, P58.8 billion; the Department of Transportation, P55.4 billion; the Department of Agriculture, P45.2 billion; and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, P41.7 billion.
The Department of Budget and Management said the allocation for each department, agency and sector was based on each government body’s needs.
Earlier, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the “budget for real change” focuses on programs and projects that will help achieve the country’s 10-point socioeconomic development agenda.
Diokno added that the Philippine economy is “deficient in all types of infrastructure.”
He said the Duterte administration is committed to hike infrastructure spending from a low 5 percent to a high 6 percent to 7 percent of GDP next year.
The government also wants to lift 10 million Filipinos out of poverty and transform the Philippines into an upper-middle-income country by 2022.