President Rodrigo Duterte is applauded by Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (left) and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez after his second State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on Monday July 24, 2017. (Photo by AARON FAVILA / AP)
President Rodrigo Duterte himself submitted to Congress the proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018, handing out copies of the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) after he ended his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday.
Duterte gave the budget books to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III at the podium, after ending his two-hour Sona.
READ: Duterte to submit proposed 2018 budget on day of Sona
“I respectfully endorse and hand the Senate and the House of Representatives the budget for the year 2018,” Duterte said, drawing rousing applause from the audience.
The proposed 2018 GAA is up 12.4 percent from the current budget of P3.35 trillion.
The 2018 budget represents 21.6 percent of the gross domestic product.
The highest allocation of the budget would go to education as mandated in the Constitution, covering the Department of Education and the state universities and colleges, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella earlier said.
READ: Duterte seeks infra-heavy P3.8-T budget for 2018
The Department of Public Works and Highways will get the second biggest share of the pie, in support of the administration’s ambitious P3.6 trillion three-year rolling infrastructure program (Trip) – P1.13 trillion for 2018, P1.18 trillion for 2019, and P1.29 trillion for 2020.
Also getting the bigger shares are the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Personnel services would get 29.4 of the national budget, the single biggest expense item, Abella said.
At least 25.4 percent of the budget will be allocated for infrastructure and capital outlays, 16 percent for local government units, 14.5 percent for maintenance, 9.8 percent for debt service and 4.5 percent for government-owned and controlled corporations. /atm
READ: Sona ’17: ‘Frank, realistic, hopeful’
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