THE House Committee on Appropriations will take up today the proposed P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016 and brief members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), and inter-agency body that determines the overall economic targets, expenditure levels and budget of the government.
Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, appropriations committee chairman, said his panel followed the same calendar and sequence to come up with the timetable of committee hearings and deliberations, except that it took into consideration the schedule of the filing of certificates of candidacy (CoC) on Oct. 12 to Oct. 16 for the May 2016 elections.
“Hopefully, the plenary debates and voting on second reading on the national budget by that time (filing) are already finished,” he said.
If the need arises, Congress could extend the Monday-to-Thursday budget hearings to Friday, he said.
Ungab urged fellow legislators to do their share in studying and scrutinizing the proposed national budget to determine if the allocation for each agency is justified.
“We would like to encourage our colleagues to actively participate in the deliberations, as we will allow free and full debates on the proposed national budget for 2016,” he said in a statement.
Today’s hearing will focus on the DBCC composed of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as the chairman; National Economic and Development Authority director general Arsenio Balisacan as the co-chairman; Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., and members Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Armando Tetangco Jr.
Tomorrow, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation will defend their proposed budgets, the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Human Rights and Commission on Audit will present their budgets on Wednesday.
The Department of Justice and the Judiciary will defend their budgets on Thursday.
According to Abad, the proposed budget for 2016 – which is 15.2 percent higher than the P2.606 trillion 2015 national budget – is the Aquino administration’s blueprint for greater inclusive growth and reform expansion in the country.
Based on allocation by sector, social services will have the biggest budget allocation of P1.1059 trillion, which is 36.8 percent of the proposed budget.
Economic services took the second largest budget allocation with P829.6 billion, which is 27.64 percent of the proposed budget.
On the other hand, general public services will get P517.9 billion, debt burden P419.3 billion and interest payment P392.8 billion.
Defense will get P129.1 billion to fund the Armed Forces’ modernization in light of the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
The top 10 department s are Education with 435.9 billion, Public Works and Highways with P394.5 billion, National Defense with P172.7 billion, Interior and Local Government with P154.5 billion, Health with P128.4 billion, Social Welfare and Development with P104.2 billion, Agriculture with P93.4 billion, Finance with P55.3 billion; Transportation and Communications with P49.3 billion, Environment and Natural Resources with P25.8 billion and Science and Technology with P18.6 billion.
Meanwhile, House independent bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, along with Buhay Hayaang Yumabong (Buhay) party-list Rep. Joselito Atienza and Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz, vowed to grill finance officials on the P424 billion in lump-sum or discretionary funds that were allocated in 11 of the 21 major line agencies under the P2.606-trillion 2015 General Appropriations Act as Congress tackles next year’s national budget.q
Former senator Panfilo Lacson earlier disclosed the 2015 national budget was filled with pork barrel funds of P424 billion despite the Supreme Court decision declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program and Priority Development Assistance Fund as unconstitutional.
“We will question the policies and details of the budget, especially the discretionary funds that senator Lacson had exposed. It is our job although there are only a few of us here to help out in this process,” said Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association.
He said the independent bloc would also look into the hundred of billions of special purpose funds or lump sum appropriations that could be included in the 2016 budget.
“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,” he added.
“Will there be pork barrel again?” Atienza asked.
“Transparency must always be the main consideration, especially with the involvement of huge amount of public funds,” De la Cruz noted.
Romualdez said Congress must not just ignore Lacson’s allegations for greater transparency.
“We call on the House leadership to look into the claim of senator Lacson on the huge discretionary funds for sake of regularity and transparency,” he added.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.gave the assurance this year’s has complied with every provisions of the Constitution, and said Lacson’s speculations were baseless and unfounded.