Wednesday, October 23, 2013

RAPPLER | Top Story | House OKs P2.268T budget for 2014

 ANGELA CASAUAY
POSTED ON 10/22/2013 5:46 PM  | UPDATED 10/22/2013 8:18 PM
MANILA, Philippines (3rd Update) – With a 219-22 vote, the House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 22, approved on 3rd and final reading the proposed P2.268 trillion budget for 2014, an amount that is the same as what Malacañang proposed.
The 2014 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) now awaits the approval of the Senate.
Once the proposed budget hurdles the upper chamber, it will move to the bicameral conference committee, which will reconcile conflicting provisions from the House and Senate versions. The budget will then be ratified by both chambers of Congress before it can be signed into law by the President.
Deliberations on the proposed 2014 budget were conducted at the height of scandals regarding the alleged misuse of billions worth of lawmakers' funds. (READ: P6.8B PDAF misused; 192 solons tagged)
Before the proposed bill was approved on committee level, House members arrived at a consensus to realign their controversial P25.2-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to 6 line agencies. (READ: Scholars, patients? DepEd, DOH get least of realigned PDAF).
Due to the changes, lawmakers may only issue "recommendations" to the concerned departments for their constituents on "soft projects" such as scholarships and healthcare.
For "hard projects" such as infrastructure, lawmakers were required to submit their proposed projects with a cap of P24.5 million each. These projects were included as line items in the budget. (READ: New 'pork' rule: P24.M maximum infra per solon)
Meanwhile, the House retained lump sum appropriations for the Office of the President, including the calamity fund.
Before voting commenced, Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco complained that lawmakers only received their copies of the 2014 budget on the day of the voting.
Tiangco said he wanted more time to examine the bill, which is composed of 3 books and more than 1,000 pages. Some solons had proposed changes to undisclosed items following the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu.
He was overruled. House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said it had been the practice of Congress to pass the budget as soon as solons received a copy of the bill, which was always certified as urgent by the President.
In an interview after the budget was passed, Speaker Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte Jr said he believes 95% of the GAB was already included in the National Expenditure Program, the original proposal of the executive branch for the 2014 budget, and this has already undergone enough considerations during the budget deliberations.
Budget allocations
The top 3 largest allocations went to the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
DepEd is set to receive a budget of P281.752 billion for 2014. Copies of the 2014 GAB distributed to House members show the amount is the same as Malacañang's original proposal despite the allocation of additional P1.26 billion from the realigned PDAF.
DPWH will get P207.322 billion, up from P200.266 billion while DILG will receive P100.183 billion, up from P99.595 billion.
Here's a summary of the changes to the proposed budget:
AGENCIES
National Expenditure Program figures
General Appropriation Bill figures
Department allocation
Congress of the Philippines
10,021,591,000
10,021,592,000
Office of the President
2,790,665,000
2,790,665,000
Office of the Vice President
417,296,000
217,296,000
Department of Agrarian Reform
20,002,768,000
20,002,768,000
Department of Agriculture
69,473,867,000
68,576,751,000
Dept of Budget and Management
963,760,000
997,494,000
Department of Education
281,751,791,000
281,751,791,000
State Universities and Colleges
32,770,703,000
34,650,625,000
Department of Energy
3,259,376,000
3,259,376,000
Department of Envi & Natural Resources
19,833,652,000
23,359,621,000
Department of Finance
11,223,094,000
11,387,941,000
Department of Foreign Affairs
12,113,738,000
12,113,738,000
Department of Health
69,892,986,000
85,123,939,000
Department of Interior and Loc Govt
99,595,064,000
100,183,030,000
Department of Justice
10,693,658,000
10,693,658,000
Department of Labor and Employment
10,132,033,000
13,423,273,000
Department of National Defense
82,195,121,000
82,195,121,000
Department of Public Works & Highways
200,265,553,000
207,321,553,000
Department of Science and Tech
12,023,315,000
12,023,315,000
Department of Social Welfare & Development
78,876,694,000
84,540,929,000
Department of Tourism
1,994,061,000
1,994,061,000
Department of Trade and Industry
4,401,338,000
4,401,338,000
Department of Transportation and Communication
40,703,309,000
45,161,306,000
National Economic and Developmentt Authority
3,904,430,000
3,904,430,000
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
19,615,029,000
19,615,029,000
Joint Legilative-Executive Council
4,167,000
4,167,000
Presidential Communication Operations office
1,128,359,000
1,128,359,000
Other Executive Offices
9,611,595,000
14,949,595,000
The Judiciary
18,359,805,000
18,462,816,000
Civil Service Commission
1,213,353,000
1,213,353,000
Commission on Audit
7,969,497,000
7,969,497,000
COMELEC
2,735,051,000
2,735,321,000
Office of the Ombudsman
1,732,334,000
1,732,334,000
Commission on Human Rights
326,923,000
326,923,000
SPECIAL PURPOSE FUNDS
Budgetary Support to Gov't Corp
Department of Agriculture
9,681,388,000
9,681,388,000
Department of Energy
9,675,800,000
9,675,800,000
Department of Finance
2,792,340,000
2,792,340,000
Department of Health
1,129,200,000
1,129,200,000
Department of Public Works and Highways
565,000,000
565,000,000
Department of Tourism
500,000,000
500,000,000
Department of Trade and Industry
459,310,000
271,443,000
Department of Transportation and Comm
344,000,000
344,000,000
National Economic Development Authority
346,806,000
346,806,000
Presidential Comm Operations Office
859,190,000
859,190,000
Other Executive Offices
19,531,724,000
19,531,724,000
BSGC- Others
13,606,000
13,606,000
Allocations to Local Gov't Units
19,705,022,000
19,177,219,000
Calamity Fund
7,500,000,000
7,500,000,000
Contigent Fund
1,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
Dep-Ed - School building program
1,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
E-Gov't Fund
2,478,900,000
2,478,900,000
International Commitments Fund
4,815,644,000
4,815,644,000
Misellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund
80,713,614,000
81,061,608,000
Pension and Gratuity Fund
12,049,595,2000
120,495,000,000
Priority Development Assistance Fund
25,240,000,000
Feasibility Studies Fund
400,000,000
400,000,000
Unprogrammed Fund
139,903,759,000
139,903,759,000
Automatic Appropriation
796,029,175,000
Debt-Servicing
440,931,000,000
– Rappler.com



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