Senate body starts deliberations on proposed P3.002-T 2016 budget

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Tuesday submitted to Congress the proposed P3.002 trillion national budget for 2016.

The Senate committee on finance on Wednesday began deliberations on the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016.

First to brief the committee on the 2016 National Expenditure Program are officials of the Development Budget Coordination Council.

READ: DBM turns over proposed P3.002 trillion national budget for 2016

Senator Loren Legarda, the new chairman of the committee, earlier said that she would endeavor to make the 2016 national budget “inclusive and attuned to the sustainable development goals.”

“I have been entrusted with the task to chair the senate finance committee and I accept the duty with the goal of ensuring that the 2016 national budget will be inclusive, which means that the government will fund programs not only for economic development but also for the growth of every citizen; not only to create progressive communities but also to build resilience; not only to reduce poverty but also to promote sustainability,” Legarda said in a statement last week.

The 2016 national budget, she said, should already be attuned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals when it expires at the end of 2015.

Legarda said the proposed SDGs aim to end poverty and hunger, improve health and education, make cities more sustainable, combat climate change, promote peace and justice for all, and protect the environment and biodiversity.

“While the SDGs are still being finalized and will be adopted in September, we already have to work on incorporating these goals in our national development agenda by ensuring that government funds will be used to attain these targets,” she said.

The senator also vowed to scrutinize the national budget and ensure that it would be used “judiciously and for the common good.” IDL