THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposed 2018 P3.767 trillion national budget.
Voting through viva voce, the lower chamber has passed the House Bill 6215 or the 2018 proposed General Appropriations Act after it was certified as urgent by the Palace.
“[Despite the urgent certification of the budget will be passed] on third reading when it will already be printed with all the amendments, which will take a week or two,” Majority Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas Jr. of Ilocos Norte said.
The P3.767-trillion national budget will focus on education and the Duterte administration’s infrastructure program.
The proposed 2018 budget represents a 12.4-percent increase against 2017’s P3.35-trillion budget. The projected fiscal program is expected to result in a deficit amounting to P524 billion, or 3 percent of the GDP.
Education will continue to receive the biggest appropriation at P691-billion, or P41.7 billion more than its 2017 budget.
As much as P1.097 trillion has been allocated for infrastructure, which is 29.5 percent, or P249.8 billion, higher than the 2017 allocation for public infrastructure.
The departments of Public Works and Highways and Transportation (DoTr) have proposed budget of P643.3 billion and P73.8 billion, respectively.
As for the budget allocation for other sectors, social services will have the biggest budget, amounting to P1.45 trillion, or 38.5 percent of the proposed national budget.
The economic-services sector comes second with P1.15 trillion, 30.6 percent of the proposed budget. The budget for economic services in 2018 will increase by 25 percent, from the 2017 amount of P922 billion.
The other agencies have the following budgetary allocations: 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.
Meanwhile, Duterte said the 2018 budget will focus on public infrastructure listed under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.
He added the P3.767-trillion proposed budget is “a budget that reforms and transforms”.
“My administration’s accelerated spending on infrastructure development is financially sound, since the benefits it will provide over the course of time will far exceed the cost of financing and building,” he said.
“In all, we plan to spend a total of P8.1 trillion for infrastructure development from 2017 to 2022,” Duterte added.
Under the accelerated infrastructure spending, the government aims to improve road transport to spur trade movement, air transport to impel air mobility, sea transport to boost port activity and rail transport to ease urban congestion.
In a bid to reduce logistics costs in Mindanao, Duterte said the Mindanao Logistics Infrastructure Network will receive a 10.3-percent increase in funding, from P21.4 billion in 2017 to P23.6 billion in 2018.
“This amount will be used to improve linkage roads to key ports and production areas in Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Central Mindanao and Caraga,” Duterte said.
Also, Duterte added the Aviation Infrastructure Program of the DOTr will obtain a 48.5-percent budget increase, from P6.8 billion in 2017 to P10.1 billion in 2018, “to maximize and expand existing airports and build new ones.”
Duterte said the government provided some P2.7 billion for night-landing capabilities of the Clark International Airport to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Some P1.7 billion will also be allocated for the modernization of ports and harbors nationwide, including the Al-Barka Ports Cluster in Al-Barka, Basilan; Volcano Island Port in Talisay, Batangas; and Agkawayan in Looc, Occidental Mindoro.
Duterte added the government will also shell out P5.3 billion for maritime infrastructure program “to boost maritime-patrol capabilities”.
On top of this, the rail-transport program will receive P26 billion under the 2018 budget proposal, of which P6.6 billion is allocated for the Mindanao Railway Project Phase 1.