After almost two months of deliberations in the committee and the plenary, the House of Representatives will vote on the final passage of the Duterte administration’s proposed P3.7-trillion national budget this week, a leader of the lower chamber said last Sunday.
House Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas Sr. of Ilocos Norte said the lower chamber will pass the proposed 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on Tuesday.
“Barring any printing technical difficulties, we will consider on third reading the 2018 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) on Tuesday, September 26, immediately following the roll call,” Fariñas told reporters.
In a radio interview, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City said, before the budget’s final approval, copies of the 2018 proposed GAA containing all the amendments will be distributed to the 294 members of the House of Representatives.
According to Nograles, one the major changes in the budget bill is the restoration of the allocations of the Commission on Human Rights, Energy Regulatory Commission and National Commission on Indigenous People, which were initially given P1,000 by the chamber.
“With the budgets of the three agencies restored to reasonable levels, there are hardly any contentious provisions left where the House and Senate might disagree”, he said.
Nograles also added another big adjustment in the 2018 budget is the realignment of a total of P40 billion to finance the full implementation of the Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
He said the P40 billion will be sourced from the Commission on Human Right, P115 million; Department of Education, P30 billion; Department of Transportation (DOTr), P3 billion; the Commission on Higher Education, including state universities and colleges, P6 billion and Department of Information and Communication Technology, P1 billion.
However, Nograles added the Senate will still have ample time to go over the House’s version of the GAB. The Senate is still scrutinizing the 2018 budget.
The lawmaker added President Duterte is expected to sign the 2018 budget bill into law in November.
The 2018 P3.767-trillion national budget will focus on education and its ambitious infrastructure program of the government.
The proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018 is 12.4 percent higher than the P3.35-trillion budget this year.
The education sector will receive P691 billion next year—P41.7 billion more than the 2017 budget.
As much as P1.097 trillion has been allocated for the government’s infrastructure projects next year. It is 29.5 percent, or P249.8 billion, higher than the 2017 national budget’s allocation for public infrastructure.
The Department of Public Works and Highways and DOTr have hefty budgets of P643.3 billion and P70.8 billion, respectively.
As for allocation according to sector, social services will get a huge chunk at P1.45 trillion, or 38.5 percent of the proposed budget. The economic-services sector follows with P1.15 trillion, or 30.6 percent of the proposed budget.
Other agencies with the highest budgetary allocations are: Department of Interior and Local Government, P172.3 billion; Department of Health, P164.3 billion; Department of National Defense, P145 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P138 billion; Department of Agriculture, P54.2 billion; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, P33.5 billion; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources,P27.9 billion.