House approves P3-T nat’l budget

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the proposed P3.002 trillion national budget for 2016.

The chamber late Friday approved the bill in a vote of 230-20, immediately after the budget bill was passed on second reading on the same day.

The passage was fast tracked following the certification as urgent by President Benigno Aquino III.

Now that the lower chamber has dispensed with the passage of the budget, it will now be transmitted to the Senate for its deliberations.

The chamber created a small committee under the appropriations panel to tackle the amendments to the proposed budget.

In a statement, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares and Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon slammed the passage of the bill which they deemed padded with pork barrel funds.

Colmenares claimed one third of the budget or P758.398 billion are lump sum funds which are prone to corruption.

“The Aquino administration is just perpetuating the pork barrel in the national budget and this will alo continue in the supposed Daang Matuwid. In 2015 the lump sum is P424 B while now in the 2016 budget it ballooned to at least P758.398 billion and this does not include other items in the Unprogrammed Fund and other Special Purpose Funds,” Colmenares said.

Ridon said the budget was crafted to serve as pork barrel, election campaign war chest, and payment of foreign debt.

“The P3-trillion national budget that the House passed tonight is a budget loaded with lump-sums, sneaky provisions crafted for fund juggling a lá DAP, and billions of funds designed to serve as the ruling party’s campaign war chest,” Ridon said.

With the budget out of the way, the House would also focus on plenary debates of the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) after its congressional break from Oct. 10 to Nov. 2.

The passage of the BBL, which seeks to create a more politically autonomous  Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was stalled following an encounter between the government Special Action Force and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a botched antiterror raid in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The MILF entered into a peace agreement with government which paved the way for the crafting of a bill to implement the peace deal.

The 2016 proposed General Appropriations Act is 15.2 percent higher than the P2.606 trillion budget approved in 2015.

The proposed budget also represents 19.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016, higher than the 18.7 percent GDP share in 2015 and 16.4 percent GDP share (actual obligations) in 2010.

The breakdown of the proposed 2016 budget is as follows:

Social services — P1.106 trillion up from P952.7 billion in 2015

Economic services — P829.6 billion, up from P707 billion

General public services — P517.9 billion up from P431.1 billion

Debt burden — P419.3 billion up from P399.4 billion

Defense — P129.1 billion up from P115.8 billion

Social services topped the sector with 36.8 percent of the pie, followed by economic services with 27.6 percent, general public services with 17.3 percent, debt burden with 14 percent and defense with 4.3 percent.

The Department of Education topped the government agencies with the lion’s share of the budget with P435.9 billion from P377.7 billion in 2015.

It is followed by:

Department of Public Works and Highways — 394.5 billion from P304.1 billion

National Defense — P172.7 billion from P154.1 billion

Interior and Local Government — P154.5 billion from P147.2 billion

Health — P128.4 billion from P102.6 billion

Social Welfare and Development — P104.2 billion from P108.3 billion

Agriculture — P93.4 billion from P90.2 billion

Finance — P55.3 billion from P16.9 billion

Transportation and Communication — P49.3 billion from P59.4 billion

Environment and Natural Resources — P25.8 billion from P21.7 billion

Science and Technology — P18.6 billion from P18 billion Marc Jayson Cayabyab/RC