Budget chief to turn over proposed P2-T budget to SB

MANILA, Philippines - Budget Secretary Florencio Abad is set to turn over Malacañang’s proposed P2 trillion national budget for next year to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday, or a day after President Aquino delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The scheduled turnover is well ahead of the constitutional deadline for such submission, which is 30 days after SONA.

The Aquino administration has always submitted proposed budgets to Congress ahead of schedule.

The proposed outlay is 10.5 percent higher than this year’s P1.816 trillion national budget.

Over a third or P698.4 billion is allocated for social services while P510.9 billion has been set aside for economic services.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said the committee on appropriations and its numerous sub-committees would likely be busy the entire August scrutinizing the budgets of various departments and agencies.

“We’ll start with the plenary debate of the budget by September,” Gonzales said.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo expressed support for an increased budget, saying this would be necessary to spur economic growth with social equity.

“As the embodiment of the country’s explicit and implicit policies, the envisioned P2 trillion national budget for 2013 shows the overall policy shift to sustained economic growth with emphasis on social equity,” Castelo said in a statement. “The budget raise is expected to impact more on the poor,” Castelo said.

“The national budget, when used appropriately, is the single biggest instrument, which could stimulate economic growth and development,” he added.

He said “foreign funds and investments appear nowhere in sight.”

“Infrastructure spending promotes massive employment, while heavy expenditures for social services mean that the poor and downtrodden would enjoy the fruits of government spending and economic growth,” he said.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, for his part, lauded the plan to increase the budget for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) by P11.3 billion for next year.

Angara, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, said “this budget proposal, if passed by Congress, will certainly help stop the bleeding as it prepares us to begin building a stronger future.”

He said one of the reasons for the dismal performance of public colleges and universities today is the lack of consistent funding support from the government.

“Of course we also encourage these SUCs to look for other ways to help themselves, such as linking up with the private sector to seek assistance that may come in the form of providing scholarships and grants,” Angara said.

“Hundreds of thousands of struggling poor families are desperately counting on these state-run colleges and universities for their children’s education. It is just right for the government to give budgetary priority to SUCs,” he said.