House passes on third, final reading P3.76-T budget for gov’t operations

The House of Representatives today passed on third and final reading the 2018 General Appropriations Bill providing the Duterte administration its first full budget of P3.76 trillion for government operations next year.

With 223 congressmen voting in the affirmative and nine in the negative, House Bill 6215 hurdled the approval of the Lower House that studied and deliberated on the P3.76 trillion national budget for 2018.

The 2018 GAA pegged an appropriation that is 12.4 percent higher than the current national allocation of P3.35 trillion. Its passage underscores the support of majority of lawmakers to the Duterte administration’s infrastructure program under the “Build, Build, Build” strategy.

The nine negative votes were posted by Representatives Lito Atienza (Buhay Partylist) and Gary Alejano (Magdalo Partylist), together with the Makabayan bloc members, namely: Representatives Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna); Antonio Tinio and France Castro (ACT Teachers Partylist); Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Partylist); Ariel Casilao (Anakpawis); and Sarah Jane Elago (Kabataan)

Representatives Raul Del Mar (LP, Cebu), Edcel Lagman (LP, Albay) and Tomasito Villarin (Akbayan) registered critical “yes” votes as they assailed the reduction of the allocation for the Commission on Human Rights.

“The reduction of the CHR budget from P678 million to P508 million sends the wrong signals about how we value human rights,” said Del Mar.

Previously, the majority gave the CHR, headed by Aquino appointee Chairman Chito Gascon, a P1,000 budget as the Malacañang-backed bloc strongly criticized Gascon’s alleged continued fiddling into politics as the cause of his inability to effectively carry out his duties.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez later heeded the strong public appeal on the issue and agreed to restore the CHR budget.

Also restored from the P1,000 allocation approved by the plenary were the budgets of the National Commission on Indigenous People and the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The proposed budget for the Department of Education’s school building program was slashed by P40 billion as the small committee tasked to amend the budget bill saw the need to finance free higher education for 2018.

`“We got P30 billion from the Department of Education for their school building program. Particularly, those with problems sa site—no buildable space, no vacant lot,” explained Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairman of the House committee on appropriations.

To completely raise the P40 billion needed to finance the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act”, the Lower House also reduced the allocation for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Despite the cut, the education sector still received the biggest allocation with P710.5 billion divided as follows: P583.1 billion for DepEd; P61.6 billion for state universities and colleges (SUCs); P49.9 billion for Commission on Higher Education and P6.9 billion for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

DepEd’s program for school building construction and repairs went down from P122.96 billion to P92.96 billion.

“This is enough for them to fulfill their mandate, considering that DepEd is faced with challenges like lack of buildable spaces and problems in school sites on where to construct additional school buildings,” said Nograles.

Second top budget getter is the Department of Public Works and Highways which would be the frontline agency for the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program. Approved for the agency is P639.8 billion.

The Department of Interior and Local Government would get P172.3 billion, that includes additional P900 million for the Oplan Double Barrel that has earned criticisms for extra judicial killings.

The Department of Health would receive P164.5 billion; Department of National Defense, P145 billion; Department of Social Welfare Development, P137.1 billion; Department of Transportation, P67.9 billion; Department of Agriculture, P54.2 billion; Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, P33.5 billion; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P27.9 billion.