House OKs P2-tr national budget on final reading

House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ARNOLD ALMACEN

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading House Bill 6455 or the General Appropriations Bill.

There were 201 legislators present at the plenary when the P2.006 trillion national budget for next year was passed on its final reading, with 195 giving affirmative votes and six opposing the national budget. None of the lawmakers abstained from voting on HB 6455.

Those who voted against the approval of next year’s budget were ACT Teachers Partylist Representative Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Partylist Representatives Emmi de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan, Anakpawis Partylist Representative Rafael Mariano, Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casino, and Siquijor Representative Orlando Fua.

Legislators belonging to the Makabayan bloc voted against HB 6455, lambasting the government for allocating insufficient budget for services which they deemed important.

A big chunk of the P2.006 trillion budget will be going to the Department of Education followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of National Defense, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The 2013 appropriations also featured a higher budget for infrastructure and for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for the poorest of the poor.

Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya, chairperson of the House appropriations committee, has earlier said that the budget would no longer contain the Priority Social and Economic Projects Fund (PSEPF) lump sum allocation.

The PSEPF is a lump sum fund that contained allocations for the special projects of various agencies but which have not been put under their respective budgets because of lack of details for the projects.

Critics have suspected that this fund could be used for the 2013 elections, given the control that the administration wields over the release of the money.

“This (the 2013 appropriations) will come out by the time the Commission on Elections ban will kick in. Majority of the 2013 budget won’t affect the election. It’s the 2012 budget that is the real election budget. But again, that doesn’t imply it will be used for partisan purposes,” Abaya told reporters on Monday.

Abaya, the new Department of Transportation and Communications chief, only stayed in the lower chamber of Congress to guide the General Appropriations Bill of 2013 through to its passage.

Next stop for the national budget’s passage is the Senate before it is handed over to be signed by President Benigno Aquino III. With a report from

Leila B. Salaverria, Philippine Daily Inquirer