DBM chief: Social services, education take bulk of 2019 national budget

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno holds a press briefing in Malacañang. (Photo by TOTO LOZANO / Presidential Photographers Division)

Social services remain as the Duterte administration’s top priority in its proposed P 3.757 trillion cash-based budget for 2019, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

Social services will get a total allocation of P 1.377 trillion or 36.7 percent of the country’s first cash-based budget.

Also, Diokno said education – including Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) , Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority – will get a total of P 659.3 billion, from the proposed annual budget. This represents a 12.3 percent increase from the P 587.1 billion it received in the 2018 national budget.

According to Diokno, social programs are the top priority in this year’s budget to help the poor cope with rocketing prices amid increasing inflation, which is blamed on the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), National Health Insurance Program, Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education, Free Irrigation for Framers, Basic Educational Facilities Program, and Rice Subsidy for Military and Uniformed Personnel will get a total allocation of P 283 billion next year.

The funding for free tuition in SUCs increased from P40 billion in 2018 to 51 billion in 2019.

In time with the opening of the third and final session of the 17th Congress on Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte submitted to the legislature his administration’s proposed 2019 cash-based national budget.   /kga