MANILA, Philippines — A significantly lower budget for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) was proposed for 2023 at around P10 billion, compared to the approved current budget of P17.1 billion.
During a press briefing after the House of Representatives formally received the executive branch’s proposed 2023 national budget on Monday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that initially, the proposed budget was P5.62 billion, but they increased it to P10 billion.
The amount is even lower than the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) suggested for 2022, which was at P28.12 billion.
“Kasama po sa budget ng local government support fund po ‘yong pondo po natin for support for barangay development program ng National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, ito po ‘yong ELCAC,” Pangandaman said when asked about how the proposed local government support fund would be distributed.
(It is included in the budget of the local government support fund about our funds allocated for the support for barangay development program under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or the ELCAC.)
The executive branch is allocating P28.9 billion of the P5.268 trillion 2023 budget for local government support, including the P10 billion NTF-ELCAC funds.
According to Pangandaman, the proposed fund seeks to provide more help for lower-income municipalities and barangays to facilitate development.
“And kasama din po dito ‘yong budget natin for growth equity fund, ito po ‘yong pondo for our fourth, fifth, and sixth municipalities and barangays po para mabigyan po natin sila ng mga enough programs and projects po para at least po maka-abot po sila sa mga mas mataas na municipalities po,” she noted.
(This includes our budget for the growth equity fund; this is our fund for our fourth, fifth, and sixth municipalities and barangays so that we can give them enough programs and projects so that they can at least reach the level of higher-ranked municipalities.)
“And we also have the financial assistance to LGUs of P5 billion,” she added.
But aside from the NTF-ELCAC funds, the executive branch’s allocation for infrastructure, particularly under the Department of Public Works and Highways, went down from P786.6 billion in the 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to P718.4 billion in the proposed 2023 budget.
It is a difference of P68.2 billion.
Social protection funds under the Department of Social Welfare and Development also decreased slightly, from P205 billion in the 2022 GAA to P197.0 billion in the current proposal.
Earlier, DBM and Pangandaman also presented key sectors under the proposed P5.268 trillion 2023 budget — the first under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s term. Pangandaman said that in accordance with Marcos’ push for education, healthcare, and food security, significant increases were made in the education, health, and agriculture sectors.
The education sector’s budget increased from P788.5 billion to P852.8 billion; health from P268.4 billion to P296.3 billion; and agriculture from P132.2 billion to P184.1 billion.
The particular increase in the agriculture sector was a 39.2 percent year-on-year increase from the 2022 approved budget.
Earlier, House officials led by House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez formally received the budget from DBM and Pangandaman.
This DBM’s move to hand in the budget on Monday means the executive branch fulfilled its promise of handing over Congress the budget on August 22 — within the timeline set by the 1987 Constitution.
Earlier, too, the Majority leaders have maintained that they are optimistic that the budget would be passed by October, or before Congress goes into a recess.