DBM to recommend P3.35-T nat’l budget for 2017

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. (CDN FILE PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte a P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the proposed 2017 budget was higher by 11.6 percent from the current budget.

“For Fiscal Year 2017, the Development Budget Coordinating Committee will recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte a total obligation budget of P3.35 trillion to be proposed to Congress,” Diokno told reporters in a press briefing.

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Huge part of the budget would be allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH).

He said the DBM would propose an approximate amount of P118 billion for the construction school buildings, which is a 44-percent increase from its 2016 budget.

He said the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the conditional cash transfer of the DSWD would have a budget of 54.9 billion.

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The government’s subsidy for health insurance premium payments for indigent families would get an approximate budget of P50 billion or a 15-percent increase from the current budget.

Diokno assured that the budget under the Duterte administration would “strictly comply” with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). CDG

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