Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday said he does not oppose the 58-percent increase amounting to P1.408 billion in the government’s travel funds next year as provided for by the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“The increase in the foreign and local trips budget is reflective of their plans for 2024,” Pimentel noted. “If President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. intendsto travel more, then so be it.
He pointed out however, that the President should be aware that the people’s problems are “more local than he thinks.”
He said food production means the country needs to produce more food at the home front.
Pimentel also said food importation is not the same as food production.
Pimentel issued his remarks following the Dec. 20 enactment by President Ferdinand Marcos of the P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024 meant to finance key administration programs as the country moves in for a post-pandemic recovery.
The President Marcos signed the 2024 GAA into law in a ceremony at Malacañang.
“Today, we sign the national budget, the instrument which tells how the taxes paid by the people will be returned to them,” President Marcos said.
“In effect, we are signing the renewal of our annual social contract with taxpayers: that what they have paid faithfully will be rebated to them in full,” he added.
The 2024 GAA, equivalent to 21.7 percent of the gross domestic product, is 9.5 percent higher than this year’s P5.268 trillion budget.
The Chief Executive noted that the P5.778-trillion national budget is more than just a “spreadsheet of government projects,” but would be used for social and economic purposes.
“Although it is teeming with numbers, this budget is more than a spreadsheet of amounts or a ledger of projects,” the President said.
“Rather, it details our battle plan in fighting poverty and combatting illiteracy, in producing food and ending hunger, in protecting our homes, in securing our border, treating the sick, keeping our people healthy, creating jobs, and funding livelihood,” Mr,. Marcos said.
He emphasized that the approved budget would be utilized to transform the public’s lives for the better.
“In the end, every line in this budget when translated to projects — from roads, to schools, to hospitals — will transform our country for the better and the lives of our people for the better,” the President said.
