The Department of Budget and Management has released the complete National Expenditure Program for 2017 as proposed by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
And boy, that’s a lot of zeroes.
In line with the president’s bloody war on drugs and criminals, the proposed budget of the military is PHP130.6 billion, roughly 15% more than the 2016 budget from the previous administration.
“This will be used to intensify the AFP’s (Armed Forces of the Philippines) counter-terrorism efforts and to protect our borders… [and] to give our soldiers more weapons and equipment,” Duterte said in his message to the Congress, emphasizing the PHP25-billion budget for the modernization of the AFP.
The Philippine National Police, which is under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, is getting PHP110.4 billion — 24.6% more compared to this year’s budget.
“My government will double or even triple its efforts to bring drug pushers and crime syndicates behind bars… [and] to hire more policemen, buy more guns and patrol vehicles and finance other activities for more effective crime suppression,” Duterte said.
The Department of Education will still receive the lion’s share of the 2017 proposed budget, getting more than PHP566 billion — a PHP135-billion difference from this year’s allocation. PHP166 billion of the proposed DepEd budget will go to the construction and rehabilitation of more than 37,500 classrooms, new facilities, and at least 53,000 new teachers.
The president’s office also got a huge boost in the budget proposal to the tune of more than PHP20 billion — almost eight times the PHP2.9-billion budget for this year. The president’s budget includes allocations for travelling expenses at PHP2.13 billion (compared to the PHP3.3 million budget this year) and something called “confidential expenses” at PHP1.25 billion (from this year’s PHP2.5 million).
The budget for the Office of the President also includes a special provision: a PHP15-billion appropriation for the hosting of the upcoming ASEAN Summit.
Wow. For comparison’s sake, the reported budget for the APEC Summit in 2015 was only PHP10 billion, and it featured Mercedes Benz and BMW service vehicles and five-star accommodations for all APEC delegates and their team. We wonder what that 15-billion budget could buy for the ASEAN delegation.
Despite the significant increase in some government agencies got a budget reduction, including the Department of Health. According to the budget proposal, DOH will receive PHP94 billion next year — a huge cut from this year’s PHP124-billion budget. While funds for hospitals and facilities were reduced, the budget for medical workers’ salaries was increased, which means a possible increase in manpower next year.
The departments of agriculture, labor and employment, and foreign affairs are also receiving budget cuts, according to the 2017 proposal.
Check out the complete DBM P3.35-trillion National Expenditure Program for 2017.
