Duterte approves P4.1 trillion 2020 national budget

President Rodrigo Duterte, along with his Cabinet members, approved the 2020 national budget on Monday night, Aug. 5, 2019. (Photo from Malacañang)

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night approved the P4.1 trillion national budget for 2020.

“We wish to inform the public that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, together with the members of the Cabinet, approved tonight the P4.1 Trillion National Budget for Fiscal Year 2020,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement before dawn Tuesday.

“This budget proposal,” Panelo added, “is designed to respond to the needs of the majority of our countrymen longing to be uprooted from the decades of: want of basic necessities, inadequate supply of basic services, lack of infrastructures required to spur economic growth, absence of accountability on government coffers, vexing bureaucratic rigmarole, deprived education and unchanged poverty, and geared to achieve a more peaceful and progressive Philippines where the living standards of Filipinos are raised.”

“We assure everyone that our people’s money, with education receiving the biggest slice of the budget, followed by public works, transportation, and health, will be spent wisely to reach a state of vibrant economy that will be felt by the citizenry,” he said.

/atm