THE P3.767-trillion budget for 2018 now fully reflects his administration's priorities, President Rodrigo Duterte said in his budget message to Congress Monday night.
“I presented to you then a transition budget for FY 2017. It was meant to support the beginning of real change, and it is doing that," Duterte said of the previous year’s budget in his message to Congress.
“Because orderly transition is the only sure road to change, the journey from “what was” to “what should be,” from “where we were” to “where we really want to be.”
Among the changes in the presentation of the 2018 budget is featuring an agency’s non-financial performance targets alongside with its budget proposals.
Currently, the budget is presented in terms of the Major Final Outputs of the agency, or the outputs delivered by the agency to its external clients.
“In this FY 2018 Budget, we raise this transparency and accountability objective a notch higher by presenting the budget in terms of the agency’s program objectives, and grouping its programs and projects under these objectives," Duterte said.
"This program-based budget structure will promote better understanding of government policies, facilitate planning and lend itself better to the evaluation of the effectiveness and cost of agency programs and projects to achieve their performance commitments.
“This Budget is thus easier to understand and evaluate being a direct reflection of the government’s strategies and interventions in the different sectors."
The validity of appropriations will also be cut short to one year, enforcing discipline on the agency transfer of funds across different line items and across different expenditure classes, and upholding the power of Congress for the use of savings in appropriations, Duterte said.
Among the new budget’s thrusts is “to promote opening government and participation as a fundamental governance approach."
“I believe we will prosper more in our anti-criminality, anti-corruption and anti-poverty goals by involving the people in the selection and monitoring of the use of taxpayer’s money, especially in the programs and projects which directly affect their lives.”
Duterte likewise asked Congress to give priority to the passage of the Freedom of Information law to ensure transparency and accountability in the whole bureaucracy.
In the list of his Key Budget Priorities, Duterte stressed the need for “reducing inequality,” “maintaining the foundation for sustainable development,” “increasing the growth potential” and "enhancing the social fabric.”
Duterte added that, with much work to be done, the government was “in need of a more activist budget” targeted at achieving the longing of the people for peaceful and safer communities, with enhanced opportunities for advancement and supported by convenient and reliable services.
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 the State Universities and Colleges with P64.6 billion.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways will receive the second highest share among the agencies with P643.3 billion, while the Department of Transportation gets P73.8 billion for a 32.6-percent increase from its 2017 budget of P55.7 billion.
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.
The 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.
Around P29.0 billion is allocated to the Health Facilities Enhancement Program in 2018, a 19.8-percent increase from the previous year’s P24.2 billion while some P9.7 billion will be provided to the 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 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 are covered by health insurance.
The Conditional Cash Transfer Program will also be enhanced through the P25.7 billion proceeds from the Tax Reform Package. An unconditional cash transfer of P200 per month or P2400 per year will be given to the poorest 50 percent or the 10 million poorest households nationwide.
Hefty allocations of P145.0 billion and P172.3 billion are provided 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 Department of Agriculture has been allocated P54.2 billion, a 32.5-percent increase from its budget this year, to expand by 500,000 hectares the total irrigated harvest area using hybrid seeds.
The P40.9 billion allocation for the National Irrigation Administration will support the agricultural production of Filipino farmers with the development, restoration, repair and rehabilitation of irrigation systems nationwide.
P10.3 billion has been allocated to the Department of Agrarian Reform. The money will speed up land distribution to agrarian reform beneficiaries and ensure land tenure security for the 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.