MANILA, Philippines -- Congress has allocated P750 million in the 2008 national budget to combat tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS, the chairman of the House appropriations committee said Tuesday.

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said the Department of Health will get P600 million for the prevention and cure of pulmonary tuberculosis and P150 million for HIV-AIDS or human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Congress on Monday ratified the P1.227-trillion General Appropriations Bill after slashing P38.5 billion from the budget?s allocations for debt servicing, slow-moving projects and miscellaneous expenses.

Then it raised allotments for agencies involved in social services such as health and education.

Of the P600 million allocation to fight tuberculosis, P200 million will be spent to treat public school teachers and non-teaching personnel afflicted with the disease.

This was prompted by the Department of Education?s recent report that close to 2,000 teachers across the country have been suffering from this communicable disease, Lagman said.

TB ranks sixth among the killer diseases in the Philippines, DoH data showed.

In terms of HIV prevalence, Lagman said the Philippines was placed in the alarming ?hidden and growing? category from its ?low and slow? status in the past years.

And while the number of people living with HIV-AIDS in the Philippines remains low, Lagman said the United Nation?s report on Global AIDS Epidemic showed the number has more than doubled since 2001.