MANILA, Philippines?Malacañang is proposing to increase the 2011 budget for education by P32.3 billion to P175 billion even as it ordered agencies and departments to refrain from lobbying Congress for bigger allocations.

According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, if Congress approves the proposed increase in the education budget, it will be the largest for the department in over a decade.

The increase is meant ?to uplift the poor in the long term [by closing] resource gaps that have prevented the delivery of quality education to poor students,? Abad said in a statement.

Among the programs to be funded by the increased budget are the construction of 13,147 classrooms and the creation of 10,000 teaching positions, Abad said.

Malacañang submitted to Congress last month a proposed national budget of P1.654 trillion for 2011.

Abad said the budget proposal also includes increased allocations for health care.

?For healthcare, P3.5 billion [is earmarked] for Philippine Health Insurance (PhilHealth) subsidies for 4.6 million indigents? that the Department of Social Welfare and Development has identified, he said.

Also, for the first time, 1.4 million ?informal sector? households are being provided for in the budget, Abad said.

He said provisions for immunization have been tripled to P2.5 billion, while some P7.1 billion has been allocated for the upgrading of health and maternal care facilities to reverse the trend of 11 mothers dying daily from complications from childbirth.

The Palace is holding Senate and House leaders to promises they made that the budget bill would be passed by mid-December.

Abad said early passage of next year?s budget is key in the administration?s plans to jumpstart vital infrastructure projects in the first semester of 2011 before the rainy season sets in.

He said the order against lobbying for more funds is aimed at ensuring that the government?s expenditure framework is intact and that the budget is approved without delays.

Aside from basic services like education and health, the government is prioritizing farm-to-market roads, post-harvest facilities and irrigation systems meant to improve the supply of food, as well as public roads and bridges to ensure smooth movement of supplies.