INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The House of Representatives is set to start scrutinizing the proposed P3.767-trillion budget for the year 2018 this Tuesday.
The budget hearings will begin with a briefing by members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee, the inter-agency body that determines overall economic targets, expenditure levels, and government spending.
The DBCC presentation will be done by the country’s economic managers: Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr.
According to the House’s statement on Monday afternoon, the education sector will receive the biggest chunk of the budget with a total funding of P691.1 billion, broken down as follows: P613.1 billion for the Department of Education, P13.5 billion for the Commission on Higher Education, and P64.6 billion for state universities and colleges.
Other agencies with high budgetary allocations are the: Department of Public Works and Highways, P643.3 billion; Department of the Interior and Local Government, P172.3 billion; Department of Health, P164.3 billion; Department of National Defense, P145 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P138 billion; Department of Transportation, P73.8 billion; Department of Agriculture, P54.2 billion; Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, P33.5 billion; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P27.9 billion.
Appropriations committee chair Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, an ally of President Duterte, said the budget should truly benefit the people.
“We have to show the Filipino people that we are meticulous in crafting this budget, careful that it takes care of keeping the cost of goods in the market low and affordable for ordinary citizens,” Nograles said in the statement.
”While a great majority of our people believe that this administration is taking the country in the right direction, we must seize the momentum and with rightful appropriations respond by truly reforming and transforming our country to one that is prosperous and peaceful; caring to our people and the environment; graft-free, crime-free and terrorist-free; with a healthy economy that provides many jobs with adequate pay, produces many goods but keeps the cost of living low; a nation we’ve always dreamed of and hoped for, one we can be most proud of,” he added.
This week, the appropriations committee will also tackle the budgets of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. on Wednesday, and DA and the Department of Tourism on Thursday.
From Aug. 7 to 10, the budgets of the following would be scrutinized: the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Commission on Human Rights, the judiciary, the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the DSWD, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, and CHEd.
From Aug. 14 to 17, the budgets of the following would be tackled: the DoH, the DND, the Presidential Communications Operations Office, the Office of the Vice-President, the DENR, the Department of Labor and Employment, the DPWH, the Department of Energy, and the DILG.
Lastly, the House would also hear the budgets for the following from Aug. 22 to 24: the Department of Science and Technology, the DepEd, the Commission on Elections, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, the Office of the President, the Commission on Audit, and the DoTr. JE