PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday submitted to Congress the administration’s proposed 2018 national budget—the earliest submission of a spending plan since the Ramos administration.
In his speech, the President vowed that the poor will be the first to experience the benefits of increased public spending for next year.
“This is to make due course that the people understand how their taxes will be spent. It is in this regard that I am submitting the P3.767 trillion 2018 budget here today. The poor and the vulnerable are at the heart of my national budget that can be felt immediately by them,” he said.
The President asked the Senate to “pass in whole” the first package of his comprehensive tax reform package, which recently passed approval in the House.
“The fate of tax reform is now in the hands of the Senate. I leave it up to you,” he said. “I call on the Senate to support it in full and pass it without haste.”
Among the priority measures that Duterte asked before Congress were:
• The passage of a National Land Use Act or NALUA to ensure the rational and sustainable use of our land and our physical resources, given the competing needs of food security, housing, businesses and environmental conservation;
• Reimposition of capital punishment;
• Womb to tomb services;
• Pending bonuses for employees of government owned and controled corporations
Duterte also asked the Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order on subdermal implants, which restricts the full implementation of the Reproductive Health Act.
The West Philippine Sea and the move toward federalism will be discussed “soon.”
The Constitution requires the President to submit the proposed budget to Congress within a month from the start of the regular session. The early submission of the proposed budget will allow Congress more time to closely examine it before passing it into law.
The P3.767 trillion proposed budget was presented by Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and approved by President Duterte during the 16th Cabinet meeting in Malacañang on July 3.
Representing 21.6 percent of the projected gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018, the proposed budget is a 12.4 percent increase from the 2017 budget of P3.35 trillion.
In line with the Duterte administration’s thrust to reduce poverty and promote economic growth, the largest allocations will go to the education sector and the infrastructure development program, “Build, Build, Build.”
A total of P691.1 billion makes up the combined budgets of the Department of Education with P613.1 billion, the Commission on Higher Education with P13.5 billion, and state universities and colleges (SUCs) with P64.6 billion.
Part of the education sector budget will fund the construction of 47,000 classrooms, the repair and rehabilitation of 18,000 classrooms, purchase of 84,781 school seats, and creation of 81,100 teaching positions.
The budget for government assistance and subsidies for students and teachers has been increased from P35.8 billion this year to P39.3 billion in 2018, while P4.8 billion has been allocated to support the student beneficiaries of CHED’s Tulong Dunong Program.
The budget for education will also fund the Education Service Contracting Program, which will allow 1,077,230 deserving elementary graduates to study in private junior high schools, as well as the Voucher Program, which will enable 1,771,968 senior high school students to enroll in specialized tracks in private or public universities and colleges.
Some 35,945 licensed private school teachers participating in the Teacher Salary Subsidy program will also benefit from the increased allocation for 2018.
The government is also targeting to fully implement the Unified Financial Assistance System (UniFAST) Act, which will integrate government-funded financial assistance programs for college students.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways will get the second highest share among the agencies, with P643.3 billion, while the Department of Transportation gets P73.8 billion, a 32.6 percent increase from its 2017 budget of P55.7 billion.
The sizable allocation given to the two departments will allow the government to intensify its numerous projects aimed at improving mobility and connectivity in the country, decongesting urban areas, and establishing modern and economical transport systems for the public.
For 2018, P1.097 trillion has been set aside to support the Build, Build, Build Program. This amount is an increase of 27.8 percent from its 2017 adjusted level of P858.1 billion. The allocation puts the infrastructure budget at 6.3 percent of GDP next year in line with the administration’s emphasis on infrastructure development.
New roads and highways will be built through an allocation of P19.4 billion, a 185.6 percent hike from the previous budget of P55.4 billion. This will allow the transport of more people and goods in all regions of the country. In addition, the DPWH will also construct new bypasses and diversion roads for an amount of P49.3 billion to connect freight centers and alleviate the daily traffic problem.
Various rail, air, and sea transport development and improvement projects will be funded by the 2018 budget, including the Land Public Transportation Program, which has been given P12.6 billion; the P5.4-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT); the P1.8-billion Metro Manila BRT-Line 1, which will serve around 300,000 daily commuters travelling from Espana Boulevard to Quezon Avenue; and the P3.1-billion Metro Manila BRT-Line 2, which will serve 1.6 million to 2 million people commuting along EDSA.
For 2018, P26.0 billion has been allocated for the rail transport program which will focus on the construction of new railways and the rehabilitation, modernization, and extension of existing railways. Included in the list of railways for construction or improvement are the Mindanao Railway Project Phase I, which will connect Davao City to Surigao and Cagayan de Oro; the P7.1-billion North-South Railway Project Phase 2-PNR South; the P1.3-billion LRT Line I South Extension (Cavite) Project; the P895-million LRT Line 2 East Extension Project; and the P608-million LRT Line 2 West Extension Project.
Some of the airports in line for improvement and development are the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, which has been given P2.7 billion for the upgrading of its night-landing capabilities, and the Bicol (New Legazpi) International Airport in Albay, with a budget of P900-million. The enhancement of these two airports will help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The budget will also support the modernization of the country’s seaports.
Gains from the Sin Tax Law, meanwhile, will be used to enhance the public’s access to quality health services, through the improvement of health facilities and the deployment of medical practitioners.
About P29 billion is allocated for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program in 2018, a 19.8 percent increase from the previous year’s P24.2 billion. This will be used to finance the construction of 1,497 Barangay Health Stations (BHS) and the improvement of the facilities of 353 hospitals. Furthermore, some P9.7 billion will be provided to health human resource development for the deployment of medical practitioners to remote communities. An additional 446 doctors, 20,527 nurses, 3,108 midwives, and 324 dentists will be hired through this expansion.
Some P57.1 billion pesos will also be appropriated for the National Health Insurance Program to ensure that low income individuals, including senior citizens and those in the informal sector, would be covered by health insurance. This allocation is P3.9 billion higher than in the previous year, as the administration targets to provide health insurance coverage to 15.4 million families at P2,400 per family; 5.4 million senior citizens at P3,120 per senior citizen. Bangsamoro families and those rebel returnee program will get P2,400 per family.
The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) will also get a boost from the P25.7 billion proceeds from the Tax reform package. An unconditional cash transfer of P200 per month or P2,400 per year will be given to the poorest 50 percent or 10 million poorest households nationwide. For the current 4.4 million CCT beneficiaries, their existing transfers will thereby be increased by P200 per month or P2,400 per year, accordingly. Furthermore, the current CCT beneficiaries will be monitored if they are moving out of the poverty line, and an additional P89.4 billion is also allocated to finance the continuance of the conditional cash transfer.
Next year’s budget also allocates P145 billion and P172.3 billion to the Department of National Defense and the Department of Interior and Local Government, respectively. The DND budget will mostly sustain the Revised AFP Modernization Program and the Philippine Coast Guard Modernization Program, including the procurement of new service weapons, firearms, and modern equipment necessary to maintain peace and order.
The DILG’s budget will be mostly used to intensify the Philippine National Police’s law enforcement operations against illegal drugs and criminality. Around 10,000 new Police Officer 1 recruits will expand the current 194,410 police officers, and will thereby increase police visibility in communities nationwide. Also, P900 million will be allocated for the Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded, the administration’s flagship program against illegal drugs.
In FY 2018, the Department of Agriculture has been allocated P54.2 billion, a 32.5 percent increase from this year’s DA budget, to expand by 500,000 hectares the total irrigated harvest area using hybrid seeds. This will translate to 19.79 million metric tons (MT) of palay yield, 1.22 million MT more than this year’s target. The DA budget will also finance the construction of an additional 1,179 kilometers of farm-to-market roads to link farmer producers to market centers, opening up economic opportunities for the rural sector.
The P40.9 billion allocation for the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will support the agricultural production of Filipino farmers with the development, restoration, repair and rehabilitation of irrigation systems nationwide. These facilities will service 564,000 farmers, and will irrigate 582,898 and 613,193 hectares of land in the dry and wet season, respectively.
Rounding out the agricultural provisions for the 2018 proposed budget is the P10.3 billion allocation for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The funds will speed land distribution to agrarian reform beneficiaries and ensure land tenure security for our farmers. Of the P10.3 billion DAR budget, P1.1 billion has been set aside for the extension of the Mindanao Sustainable Agrarian and Agriculture Development Project to spur agribusiness and agro-forestry programs in the region.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the House would give priority to the passage of the Palace-backed charter change initiative and the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, however, said the death penalty bill, already approved by the House, is still not included in the Senate’s list of priority measures. With Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta