The House of Representatives approved on Tuesday the proposed P3.767-trillion national budget for 2018 by a 223-9 vote.
The House passed House Bill 6215, or the 2018 General Appropriations Bill, which Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, said was highlighted by the inclusion of a P40-billion allocation for the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act” or the Free Higher Education Law.
Steering the GAB’s record-breaking passage, Nograles said that most of the adjustments made on the GAB was a result of a painstaking scrutiny on the spending pattern and the absorptive capacity of each government agency. It took only almost two months for the Lower House to pass the budget bill.
“We have considered at least two major factors in making our adjustments. One is urgency and another is capacity. We carved out budgets depending on the urgency of certain projects and programs that require allocation and depending on the capacity of implementing agencies to really put their funds to good use,” Nograles said.
Nograles admitted that one of the agencies that suffered the biggest cut is the Department of Education, with at least P30 billion being taken out of its school building program with an original allocation of P122.96 billion.
Nograles said however that the education sector remains with the biggest allocation at P710.5 billion, with a total of P583.1 billion going to the Department of Education, P61.6 Billion going to State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), P49.9 billion for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and P6.9 Billion for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Nograles added that despite the P30 billion cut, DepEd’s P583.1 billion budget for 2018 is still P2 billion higher if compared to its budget in 2017.
Nograles said that the cut on DepEd’s appropriation was due to lack of buildable spaces and problems in school sites, among others.
Next to the education sector in terms of allocation is Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) at P639.8 billion. Following DPWH with P172.3 billion allocation is the Department of Interior and Local Government; Department of Health with P164.5 billion; Department of National Defense with P145 billion; Department of Social Welfare Development with P137.1 billion; Department of Transportation with P67.9 billion; Department of Agriculture with P54.2 billion; the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao with P33.5 billion and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with P27.9 billion.
The nine lawmakers who voted against the measure included the seven members of the Makabayan Bloc led Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate; Reps. Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list and Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list, both members of the opposition bloc.
Alejano thumbed down the proposed 2018 national budget. “I cannot give my support and approval to a budget that patronizes killings and desecrates the rule of law, overlooks inefficiency and incompetence, slowly erodes our democratic processes, and effectively neglects the exclusive enjoyment of its citizens over the country’s national wealth by foregoing the government’s obligation of defending its territory,” he said.
The House-approved version contained restored budget for the Commission on Human Rights at P508 million. The budget allocation for the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) were both restored in full at 650.9 million and P1.13 billion, respectively. Like the CHR, the two agencies were earlier allocated a P1,000 peso budget each.
The House-approved version also carries the P990 million budget for the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.