House opens budget debate, forsaking all other measures
The House of Representatives has opened plenary debates on the proposed P3-trillion national budget for 2016, which is to take precedence over all other legislative work in the next three weeks.
Deliberations on House Bill No. 6132, or the General Appropriations Bill, began on Monday with the sponsorship speech by appropriations committee chair, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, whose panel pored over each proposed agency budget the past month.
“I am confident that with our collective wisdom, we will also pass the national budget bill on time,” Ungab said.
“The congressional power of the purse comes with the responsibility not only of ensuring that every public peso is spent within means, in the right priorities and with measurable results, particularly in fostering inclusive development, but also of passing the budget bill on time,” he said.
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora was first to ask questions, spending an hour quizzing Ungab on the expenditure program, including the economic assumptions that served as the basis for the proposed budget.
The House leadership hopes to finish plenary discussions on the budget and approve it on second and third reading by the end of October.
P396B more than this year
The proposed 2016 budget is 15.2 percent higher, or P396 billion more, than the 2015 expenditure program and represents 19.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), a slight increase from the current year.
Ungab said new appropriations would amount to P2.139 trillion, of which over P2 trillion was programmed and P67.5 billion unprogrammed, which may only be utilized if revenues exceed targets or if new loans are secured.
The proposed budget is anchored on the assumption that the economy will grow 7 to 8 percent this year, in 2016 and over the medium term; inflation will be within 2 to 4 percent and the exchange rate between P43 and P46 per dollar.
It is also consistent with other macroeconomic assumptions such as a 364-day Treasury bill rate of 2 to 4 percent, export growth of 6 percent and import growth of 12 percent, Ungab said.
Social services will get the largest share of the budget, accounting for 36.8 percent, followed by economic services at 27.6 percent and general public services at 17.3 percent.
