President Aquino OKs P1.8-T budget

President Benigno Aquino III has approved late Wednesday the administration’s proposed P1.816-trillion national budget for 2012, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Abad disclosed that social services—basic education, public health and the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program”—would get the lion’s share of the proposed budget, equivalent to or 31 percent or P573.5 billion.

The proposed allocation for social services is an increase of ten percent over its current budget of P521.4 billion, according to Abad.

Other features of the proposed budget:

The budget for national defense increased by only around two percent, from P104.7 billion in 2011 to P106.9 billion in 2012. But Abad said around P11 billion had been set aside for the Armed Forces’ requirements in protecting the government’s territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The Department of Education will have the largest slice of the budget, or P237 billion, representing a 14.4 percent increase from its P207.3-billion 2011 allocation.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development will get the highest increase, with its budget expanded by 56 percent to P53.6 billion from the current year’s P34.3 billion.