DBCC meets to present 2017 ‘budget for change’

House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) on Monday convened at the House of Representatives to discuss with Congress the proposed P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017.

The committee is tasked to recommend to the President the level of the annual government expenditure program and the ceiling of government spending for economic and social development, national defense, general government and debt service. It is composed of the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and Finance (DOF), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Office of the President (OP). It is chaired by the budget secretary.

READ: DBM submits P3.35-T ‘budget for change’ for 2017

This is the first DBCC meeting of the Duterte administration.

Those who attended to present the budget and its macroeconomic and fiscal implications were Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, NEDA Secretary General Ernesto Pernia and BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo.

The proposed 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA) was dubbed as “a budget for real change.”

The 2017 proposed General Appropriations Act is 11.6 percent higher than the P3.002-trillion national budget this year.

READ: P3.35-T nat’l budget sought

The proposed budget also represents 20.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), higher than the 20.1 percent GDP share in 2016.

The government is also targeting a deficit three percent of the GDP or P478.1 billion, constituting the part of the government expenditure that could not be covered by the national budget.

Budget by sectors

According to sectors, the biggest share of the pie or 40 percent goes to social services under which P1.345 trillion was earmarked for social services such as education, culture, health, social security, housing, land distribution, among others. This was an increase from the P1.12 trillion budget in 2016.

At least 27.58 percent or P923.954 billion of the pie was allocated to economic services, such as agriculture and agrarian reform, natural resources and environment, trade and industry, tourism, power and energy, communication, roads and other transport, among others. This was an increase from the P834.029 billion budget in 2016.

At least 17.37 percent or P581.835 billion was earmarked for general public services such as general administration, public order and safety, among others. This was an increase from the P497.975-billion budget in 2016.

At least 10 percent or P334.877 billion of the budget would go to debt servicing and interest payment, a decrease from the P392.797 billion budget for this purpose this year.

Finally, at least 4.41 percent or P147.762 billion was allocated to defense, an increase from the P130.687 billion budget in 2016.

Budget to fight drugs

During the turnover of the National Expenditure Program last week, Diokno said the budget of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was substantially increased to support the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, criminality and terrorism.

Diokno said the proposed budget for the PNP amounted to P110.4 billion, or 24.6 percent higher than its 2016 budget, for the national police force to hire more personnel, and purchase more guns and patrol vehicles to intensify its suppression of criminality.

On the other hand, the proposed budget for the AFP is P130.6 billion, or 15 percent higher than the 2016 budget, to complement the AFP Modernization Program, under which P25 billion was allocated to better equip soldiers for counterterrorism.

Budget by department

The top 10 departments with the highest budgetary allocation (including the allocation for special purposes) are as follows:

• Department of Education—P567.561 billion, from P433.383 billion in 2016
• Department of Public Works and Highways—P458.61 billion, from P397.108 billion
• Department of Interior and Local Government—P150.050 billion, from P125.399 billion
• Department of National Defense—P134.54 billion, from P117.73 billion
• Department of Social Welfare and Development—P129.912 billion, from P110.9 billion
• Department of Health—P94.046 billion, from P124.95 billion
• State Universities and Colleges—P58.812 billion, from P49.661 billion
• Department of Transportation (formerly Department of Transportation and Communications or DOTC)—P55.478 billion, from P44.298 billion (of the DOTC)
• Department of Agriculture—P45.291 billion, from P48.94 billion
• Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)—P41.782 billion, from P29.41 billion

Among the departments and special purpose allocations, the Duterte administration proposed the highest increase in budget allocation for ARMM, which saw its budget increase of 42 percent to P41.782 billion from the current P29.41 billion.

The budget for the judiciary also increased to P32.541 billion, from the current budget of P26.79 billion.

The budget for the OP increased by a whopping 600 percent, to P20.03 billion from the current budget of P2.86 billion. But Diokno said this was because in the OP budget, at least P15 billion was earmarked for the conduct of the 50th Golden anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next year. RAM/rga