Proposed 2016 budget to lock in gains of Aquino admin, Abad says

BUDGET Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad on Monday said the proposed P3.002 trillion budget for 2016 seeks to lock in and continue the gains of the Aquino administration.

During the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) hearing at the House of Representatives on Monday, Abad told lawmakers that the proposed budget is the first time to breach the P3-trillion mark.

He also said the budget “seeks to lock in and build our gains.”

“In our pursuit of sustained inclusive growth while considering the extent of our resources available and sustainable development, we have nearly doubled the national budget in the span of six years,” Abad said.

He said the 2016 proposed budget is 95 percent bigger than the 2010 budget.

The budget, Abad said, is divided according to the following expense class:

Personal services – P810.8 billion

Maintenance expenditures – P534.6 billion

Debt burden – P419.3 billion

Infrastructure and other capital outlay – P645.4 billion

Support to government owned and controlled corp. – P127.1 billion

Allocation to local government units – P464.5 billion

Meanwhile, according to the Budget department, the Department of Education topped the government agencies with the lion’s share of the budget with P435.9 billion from P377.7 billion in 2015.

It is followed by:

• Department of Public Works and Highways – 394.5 billion from P304.1 billion
• National Defense – P172.7 billion from P154.1 billion
• Interior and Local Government – P154.5 billion from P147.2 billion
• Health – P128.4 billion from P102.6 billion
• Social Welfare and Development – P104.2 billion from P108.3 billion
• Agriculture -P93.4 billion from P90.2 billion
• Finance – P55.3 billion from P16.9 billion
• Transportation and Communication – P49.3 billion from P59.4 billion
• Environment and Natural Resources – P25.8 billion from P21.7 billion
• Science and Technology – P18.6 billion from P18 billion

In an interview at the sidelines of the hearing, Abad reiterated that the budget is free from the discretionary fund or the pork barrel, which was abused as a political patronage tool.

Abad said there are only three kinds of lump sum, or the portion, which cannot be disaggregated, in the budget.

These are calamity funds worth P19 billion, contingency funds worth P4 billion and P50 billion in local government share to royalties also known as Internal Revenue Allotment.

He said these lump-sum funds could only be disaggregated at the agency level. He cited the use of these funds for the conditional cash transfer where the Department of Social Welfare and Development would have to identify the rightful beneficiaries.

He also said lump sum for the pensions for retirees could only be disaggregated when the beneficiaries are identified.

“We cannot put all those names in the budget. It will be unwieldy and impractical. All of the others are there as lump sums because of their nature. There is separate disaggregation for them,” Abad said.

The 2016 proposed General Appropriations Act is 15.2 percent higher from the P2.606 trillion approved 2015 budget.

The proposed budget also represents 19.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016, higher than the 18.7 percent GDP share in 2015 and 16.4 percent GDP share (actual obligations) in 2010.