A MEMBER of the Makabayan Bloc on Tuesday did not discount the possibility that the Aquino administration will use the P3-trillion national budget for 2016 as a war chest for next year’s national elections.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said he believed the Aquino administration would maximize the use of government resources to make its candidates win and pass its priority measures such as the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
“These are all valid concerns and we urge the public to keep their vigilance on the historic P3- trillion national budget for 2016,” Zarate said.
He made his statement even as a source said several Muslim rebel factions in Mindanao were set to form a grand alliance that could block the passage of the BBL.
“We confirm that there will be a grand alliance,” said retired police intelligence director Rodolfo Mendoza, president of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research.
Zarate’s statement came as Malacanang submitted to Congress the P3.002-trillion General Appropriations Bill for 2016.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. repeated the commitment of the House leadership to pass the BBL as President Aquino III stressed in his final State of the Nation Address in passing the measure that is expected to ensure lasting peace in Mindanao.
But Budget Secretary Florencio Abad played down the insinuations that the 2016 budget would be used to finance the passage of the BBL.
Abad, in an ambush interview with House reporters, said the government will not allocate funds to something that is not yet determined.
The House is expected to pass the BBL bill on third and final reading by September.
Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, head of the House Independent Bloc, vowed to “exercise to the fullest” their role as legislators and fiscalizers in scrutinizing the 2016 national budget.
Romualdez said his bloc will check how next year’s national budget will be distributed to various programs.
“It’s our role to scrutinize the national budget for next year to guarantee that no funds are misused. We will dissect and analyze the contents of the national expenditures,” Romualdez said.
The 2016 national budget is 15.2 percent higher than this year’s P2.606-trillion budget and about 19.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Abad said the spending priorities of the Aquino government will focus on the following areas: (1) Good Governance and Anti-Corruption; (2) Ensuring Inclusive Growth; (3) Sustaining the Growth Momentum;(4) Managing Disaster Risks; and (5) Forging Just and Lasting Peace.
Under the proposed 2016 budget, the Department of Education will get the biggest slice with P436.5 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with P401.14 billion; the Department of National Defense (DND), P172 billion; the Department of Interior and Local Government, P156 billion; the Department of Health (DoH), P128.5 billion; and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P107.6 billion.
Of the agencies in the Executive, the DPWH and DoH received the highest increases in their annual budgets at 32 percent and 25.2 percent, respectively.
The budget hike for the two agencies is “part of efforts to boost public infrastructure development and support economic expansion as well as to improve health care services especially to the poor and most vulnerable sectors of society.”
The proposed budget with the theme, ‘Paggugol na Matuwid: Saligan sa Tuloy-Tuloy na Pag-Unlad,’ is anchored on the following principles: (1) Spending within our means; (2) Investing in the right priorities; (3) Delivering measurable results; and (4) Empowering citizens through fiscal transparency, accountability and participation.
