CONGRESS is rushing the approval of the 2017 P3.35-trillion General Appropriation Bill on second reading on Wednesday to ensure it meets its legislative timetable for the year.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, appropriations committee chairman, said the August body is set to pass next year’s national budget on second reading on Oct. 5 so that lawmakers could prepare the bill’s third and final reading approval immediately after the House of Representatives resumes session from the Nov. 1-Nov. 2 break.
“Hopefully by Wednesday we are going to approve the national budget on second reading. This will be passed on third and final reading after our Halloween break,” he said.
Congress will continue today its two-week marathon deliberations on the national budget, he added.
He said the 2017 budget will invest heavily on President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign to attain peace and order.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte, appropriations committee’s vice chairman, defended the P21.3-billion budget of the Department of Finance and its attached agencies for 2017, citing the DoF’s budget is integral to help the Duterte administration implement programs and projects designed to improve the lives of at least 10-million Filipinos and transform the Philippines into an upper middle-income country by 2022.
The budget of DoF, the government’s main agency mandated in revenue generation, plays a significant role in the Duterte administration’s long-term goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2040.
Nograles said P206.6 billion is allocated for public order and safety of the Philippine National Police to help lower the crime rate by 5 percent in 2017.
The Department of National Defense would receive P147.8 billion, 13 percent more than its 2016
budget, while P39.6 billion shall be appropriated for the increase in the base pay and allowance of military and uniformed personnel.
The 2017 budget is higher by 11.6 percent than the 2016’s budget of P3.002 trillion.
As a percentage of gross domestic product, the 2017 budget represents 20.4 percent compared this year’s 20.1 percent of GDP.
