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Friday, December 23, 2016
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday signed into law Republic Act 10924, or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2017, the first budget law under his administration.
Anchored on his 10-point socioeconomic agenda, the P3.35-trillion “People’s Budget” supports fundamental services and includes provisions reaching out to marginalized sectors and underdeveloped provinces.
After the signing, Duterte commended Congress and its leaders for rigorously scrutinizing the budget and ensuring its prompt approval, and the Department of Budget and Management for putting the budget together.
“The 2017 GAA is the embodiment of the Filipinos’ clamor for real change and the call for an honest and compassionate government,” he said. “We ensure that it will be pro-people, pro-investment, pro-growth, and pro-development.”
Included in the budget are allocation increases for infrastructure development, free education for state universities and colleges (SUC), universal health care, rice allowance for the poor, free irrigation for farmers, subsistence allowance for prisoners, and pension for war veterans and centenarians.
Among executive departments, the Department of Education received the highest allocation with P544.1 billion.
The funds will be used to provide and maintain basic learning facilities, create teaching and nonteaching positions, and provide learning resources to more than 20 million students.
SUC allocation also rose to P58.72 billion, while the Commission on Higher Education was allotted P18.7 billion.
Meanwhile the Department of Social Welfare and Development got P128.3 billion, a 15.8-percent increase from the 2016 budget. The amount includes P78.2 billion for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.
“CCT beneficiaries will receive a monthly rice allowance,” said Duterte. “Both the young and the old will be taken care of [through] supplemental feeding for day care children and increased coverage of social pension for indigent senior citizens.”
The Department of the Interior and Local Government was given P148 billion for support to the antidrug campaign, construction of new jails and additional allowances for prisoners, among others.
National and household electrification in off-grid areas had P1.1 billion.
Moreover the Department of Health was given P96.3 billion for modern medical facilities and expanded health services.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. was also provided P53.22 billion.
“To promote universal health care, we will include P1.5 billion for the doctors of the various programs, and P2.6 billion for the construction of treatment and rehabilitation centers in rural areas,” said Duterte.
“Existing health facilities will be improved through the health care facilities enhancement program, while indigent patients will also receive free services from government hospitals,” he said./PN
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