FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. PHOTO FROM PALACE
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023 in a ceremony held in the Malacañan Palace on Friday.
According to the Office of the Press Secretary, Marcos signed the bicameral conference committee report containing the consolidated versions of the 2023 General Appropriations Bill in the presence of key administration officials and leaders from both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
This spending plan is the first full budget of Marcos Jr.’s administration, which seeks to put more emphasis on agriculture. He assumed the presidency last June 30.
Deliberations on the 2023 budget proposal in the House and the Senate saw the removal and eventual restoration of controversial confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Office of the Vice President (OVP) – both being helmed by Sara Duterte – by the bicameral conference committee.
READ: Education gets P852-B in proposed 2023 budget; allocation for agri rises by 39.2%
At the Senate, the proposed P150 million CIF of DepEd was slashed to just P30 million. But the original amount was reinstated during the bicameral conference committee discussions.
In past administrations, lawmakers had noted DepEd and OVP did not have CIFs.
Also, during deliberations of the bicameral conference committee, the P10 billion budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict for 2023 was restored even if lawmakers questioned the low accomplishment rate of the government’s anti-insurgency task force.
The bicameral conference committee realigned around P70 billion in the 2023 national budget.
READ: Bicam approves consolidated version of proposed 2023 budget
Budget amendments during the bicameral conference committee also included the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation allocations, free transportation rides or “Libreng Sakay,” and social aid.
In a briefing on Wednesday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said they expect the President to directly veto two to three items in the 2023 national budget.
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