Congress to get 2019 budget on SoNA day

The proposed 2019 budget, the third spending blueprint of the Duterte administration, is ready for submission to Congress on July 23, the day President Duterte will deliver his third State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

The P3.757-trillion budget will be the first cash-based budget of the government, reflecting the urgent need to speed up public service delivery to the people.

The spending priorities in the President’s Budget for 2019 center on public infrastructure and human capital development.

Higher investments in infrastructures will support economic growth, targeted to reach 7 percent to 8 percent in 2019, create jobs and spur opportunities in the countryside.

Spending for human capital such as education, healthcare and social protection will mold the country’s young population into a world-class and competent workforce capable of sustaining the country’s growth momentum.

“We are sticking to our plan of focusing on Build, Build, Build and social services,” Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said. “These are the priorities we identified as early as the beginning of our term and we will see to it that investments in these sectors are sustained,” he added.

The sector with the highest allocation is education, comprised of the budgets of the Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Its cash-appropriation amounts to P659.3 billion, higher by P72.2 billion or 12.3 percent than its cash-based equivalent in the 2018 budget.

Consistent with Build, Build, Build, the Department of Public Works and Highways gets an allocation of P555.7 billion, registering a P225.5 billion or 68.3 percent increase.

The Department of Interior and Local Government comes in third, with an allocation of P225.6 billion, higher by P53.3 billion or 30.9 percent. The bigger allocation will strengthen local governance and support the public safety initiatives of the government.

This is followed by the Department of National Defense with a budget of P183.4 billion, an increase of P46.9 billion or 34.4 percent. Such an amount will bolster security and promote peace and order in the country.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, which included the budget for unconditional cash transfers under the Land Bank of the Philippines, was fifth with an allocation of P173.3 billion, higher by P8.9 billion or 5.4 percent.

Funding for social welfare will support the poverty-reduction efforts and social protection programs of the government.