Senator Sonny Angara is optimistic that the result of the lengthy deliberations on the 2023 national budget will help in revitalizing the economy after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and provide the most affected sectors the assistance they need to return to normalcy.

After months of deliberations, both Houses of Congress have approved the P5.268 trillion General Appropriations Bill, which is now being prepared for printing and for transmittal to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his review and signing.

"It is a budget for national recovery. It's the first budget of the Marcos administration so you also want to support the initiatives of the administration," Angara said.

He added: "It's a modest increase from this year's budget but it will translate to higher budgets for health, agriculture, education, and infrastructure. The need to support these sectors is undebatable."

Under the General Appropriations Act, the education sector will receive a total budget of over P900 billion, which represents an increase of around P100 billion compared to the current funding.

The Department of Education's budget includes the funding for the state universities and colleges, which Angara said is higher than what was contained in the National Expenditure Program and has been increased by Congress in the last five years, and funding for previously unfunded items such as the Special Education Program of the DepEd.

"The education sector is higher than what Malacañang proposed under the National Expenditure Program. Both the Senate and the House prioritized this sector," he said. "What was approved was also higher than the allocation for the education sector in the 2022 budget."

In the case of the health sector, the total budget under the 2023 GAB is P416 billion, which is P12.7 billion higher than this year's budget of P403.3 billion.

This includes items placed under the unprogrammed appropriations that will be financed once additional revenues are realized or when proceeds from loans come in.

Among the items that will be funded under the 2023 budget are the emergency health benefits and allowances for the country's health and non-health workers, the purchase of vaccines, medical assistance for indigent patients, and an increase in the operational budgets of the state-run hospitals.

The agriculture sector, which is one of the cornerstones of the Marcos administration, was also provided with a total of P178.7 billion under the 2023 GAB or an increase of P46.5 billion from this year's budget of P132.2 billion.

This includes the budgets of the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies, the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.