Proposed P3-T 2016 budget set for approval by year-end

MANILA, Philippines - The proposed P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016 will get approved before the year ends, sealing the Aquino administration’s thrust of enacting a spending program just in time for a fresh fiscal year.

“I am happy to inform you that as it looks like, the budget for next year will be signed into law by the year-end similar to the past years of the administration,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a forum last week.

The national outlay is now en route to Senate after being approved by the Lower House last Oct. 9. Congress is adjourned until Nov. 2.

When the session resumes on Nov. 3, it’s the Senate finance committee’s turn to evaluate the budget beginning with a briefing of economic managers.

Senate leaders could not be reached for comment. But according to the official legislative calendar, the Senate has until Dec. 18 to pass the budget before it adjourns again for Christmas break.

After Senate approval, the budget goes to President Aquino’s desk for signing and will still need to be published before taking effect.

The P3.002-trillion budget is 15.20 percent higher than this year’s P2.606 trillion outlay. Of the total, P2.42 trillion will finance existing expenses such as employee salaries, overhead costs and existing programs like basic education.

A total of P580.9 billion will be spent for “new or expanded programs,” according to a government budget briefer.

Earlier, Abad defended the Aquino administration against criticisms it has been underspending, saying the previous government’s failure to pass the budget on time was much of an underspending.

A delay on the budget’s passage results into a re-enacted outlay of the previous year, leaving new programs hanging without funding.