The proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 will likely be submitted to Congress next week, Malacañang said on Friday, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held a special meeting with his Cabinet to discuss the proposed spending plan.
In a press conference, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the 2023 budget plan is currently being fine-tuned after several Cabinet secretaries gave their inputs during the meeting.
“Different secretaries gave some inputs for the fine-tuning. The department will submit [the proposed 2023 budget] to Congress by next week,” she said.
On Monday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman vowed to submit to Congress the proposed P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Act on time to ensure its passage before yearend.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) initially sought to submit the proposed budget on August 22.
The 1987 Constitution mandates the executive department to submit the proposed National Expenditure Program to Congress within 30 days from the opening of the regular session of Congress.
The Marcos administration’s top priority sectors in the budget spending include education, health, infrastructure, and agriculture.
The education sector, Cruz-Angeles said, will receive the biggest budgetary allocation for next year.
Asked how much will be allocated for the country’s COVID-19 response, Cruz-Angeles said: “We don’t have details because it’s still being fine-tuned. It will be finalized and then submitted to Congress next week.
Cruz-Angeles said the special meeting began around 9 in the morning.
Marcos’ chief legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile was present during the meeting, as shown in a video by Radio Television Malacañang.
Sen. Sonny Angara, head of the Senate Committee on Finance, earlier said the Marcos administration will likely enforce “more focused spending” as it eyes only a 4-percent increase in next year’s budget.
Marcos vowed to prioritize economic recovery, accessible health care to all Filipinos, ease farmers’ debt burden, and streamline government functions during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
Angara also said the wish of the Agriculture Department – headed by the President himself in the interim — to triple its budget would be “very hard.”
“It’s very hard to triple a budget because the proposed 2023 budget, from what I’m hearing from the economic managers, is only 4 percent higher than the 2022 budget, that’s a very small increase compared to previous years,” he told ANC’s Headstart.
“But perhaps you’ll see more focused spending because the President wants to do so many things so the departments have to take their cue and focus on what the President mentioned in his SONA.”
He added, “That’s probably why the President started his SONA with a budget responsibility call… precisely so we can focus on all these issues.”
Asked where the government can get the budget for the additionalhospitals and rural health units that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr mentioned in his first SONA, Angara said there are some P10 billion to P20 billion “health facility enhancement funds” every year.
Some local governments are capable of funding the improvement of their local hospitals, he added.
“Now there’s a new development in local government finance which is the Mandanas doctrine which gives more resources to the health personnel… We can be creative on how we fund the healthcare system,” he said.
“Some of the cities are also very healthy, you also have PPPs (public-private partnerships). It’s not only the national government who is only capable of spending for these things.”
The SONA was the “perfect time” for Marcos to bring up tax reform, Angara said.
“He has an overwhelming mandate and political capital. Do it at your most popular,” he said.