DoT seeks P3.39-B budget for 2025
The bulk, or 84 percent of the agency’s proposed budget, is earmarked for the Office of the Secretary
Daily TribuneThe bulk, or 84 percent of the agency’s proposed budget, is earmarked for the Office of the Secretary
TOURISM Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco (left) explains a point to DAILY TRIBUNE Executive Editor Chito Lozada and Associate Business Editor Teddy Montelibano during her Straight Talk interview Wednesday.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LARRY CRUZ FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE
The Department of Tourism (DoT) is seeking to secure a total P3.394 billion budget for fiscal year 2025.
Presenting at the House Committee on Appropriations on behalf of the agency, Tourism Undersecretary Shereen Gail Yu-Pamintuan said the lion’s share — P2.84 billion — or 84 percent of the total proposed budget, is earmarked for the Office of the Secretary (OSEC).
Meanwhile, proposed for the National Parks Development Committee is P384 million, P146 million for the Intramuros Administration, and P25 million for Sports Scuba Diving.
Moreover, 22.52 percent is dedicated to personal services, while the capital outlay is at almost 9 percent, or about P304 million, which Pamimtuan said pertains to DoT OSEC’s Information Systems Strategic Plan for 2025, the vehicle requirements of the smaller agencies, and Intramuros’ solid waste management.
A 6.3 percent decrease
The 2025 national expenditure program is a 6.3 percent reduction in the DoT’s proposed budget allocation compared to this year’s budget, said Pamintuan.
“As mentioned, the total proposed appropriation based on the National Expenditure Program for the DoT-OSEC is P2.8 billion, where general administration and support will get the bulk of the budget, followed by tourism policy formulation and planning,” she noted.
Pamintual also said that the tourism budget compared to the national budget between 2017 and 2024 shows that it has less than a 0.1 percent share of the annual budget.
The lowest budget share of DoT was registered last year at only 0.045 percent.
Still, the DoT official said, “we have been consistent in making a significant contribution to our GDP and are confident that we will have a steady recovery from the pandemic and have great potential to achieve, or better yet, surpass our pre-pandemic share of 12 percent.”
