The House of Representatives is conducting plenary debates for the proposed 2017 national budget.
House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Karlo Nograles is being interpellated by Albay First District Representative Edcel Lagman.
They are discussing the budget for the Office of the President (OP).
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier proposed the amount of P 20.03-billion for President Duterte’s office.
This is 600% higher than the current budget of P 2.86-billion.
Palace attributes the huge increase to the allocation for the 50th Golden Anniversary of the ASEAN in 2017.
The Duterte admininistration’s proposed national budget for next year amounts to a total of P 3.35-trillion.
The figure is 11% higher than the P 3-trillion budget for this year.