Malacañang submitted the P2-trillion 2013 appropriation to the House of Representatives yesterday, a day after President Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told The STAR last night that the P8 billion allocated for the poll body for 2013 was way below the P24 billion originally proposed.
Brillantes said he would send a letter today to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, detailing why the Comelec could not carry out its tasks next year with an appropriation of only P8 billion.
The budget department had initially cut the P24 billion to P13 billion. Brillantes asked for at least another P4 billion. Instead the department brought it down further to P8 billion.
Abad told Brillantes that when the Comelec decided to purchase the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines from Smartmatic Inc. – a decision sustained by the Supreme Court – the poll body had P7 billion, of which only P1.8 billion was paid to the company.
Brillantes said the P1.8 billion was only for hardware and software, and the Comelec needed at least P6 billion for needed services for the May 2013 elections. More funds are needed for the barangay elections in October next year, he said.
“If they will not give back – at least put the funding back to P13 billion – then we will have a problem,” Brillantes told The STAR. “It might result to no-el, no elections, or at the very least force us to go back to manual elections.”
Congress receives proposed budget
True to his word, President Aquino yesterday submitted his proposed P2-trillion 2013 national budget to Congress, which he said would sustain the country’s economic growth.
He made the submission through Abad, who presented the budget documents to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and other leaders of the House of Representatives.
At the same time, Abad sent copies of the proposed budget to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
In his budget message, Aquino said his 2013 budget proposal would build on the gains his administration has achieved, especially on the economic front.
“The expenditure program is consistent with our macroeconomic and fiscal aspiration for the next fiscal year and in the medium-term,” he said.
“Above that, this budget is a crucial step in our continuing pursuit of good governance – governance that will give our impoverished countrymen the opportunity to lift themselves out of their situations; governance that will ensure that this country moves forward together.
This is why we have crafted a budget of empowerment,” he said.
Belmonte said the House would shortly conduct “intensive hearings” on the proposed budget “as we did in previous years.”
He thanked Aquino and Abad for submitting the budget early.
Under the Constitution, the President has 30 days from the start of the regular session of Congress to present his budget proposal.
Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, appropriations committee chairman, said Aquino “carried on a tradition by submitting the budget a day after his SONA (State of the Nation Address).”
“It’s a reflection of his good governance policy, which abhors a reenacted budget,” he said.
Abad said the administration, in crafting the 2013 budget, “was determined to build on the gains we have so far posted, as well as encourage more robust and inclusive fiscal growth in the coming year and beyond.”
He said the proposed spending program is P190 billion more than this year’s budget.
It is based on a higher economic growth assumption of six to seven percent, he said.
The country has posted a 6.4-percent growth in the first half of this year, the highest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.
Abad said the administration involved local government units and civil society organizations in putting together the budget.
“Before, it is the national agencies that dictate the programs,” he said.
He said in terms of allocation by sector, social services would get the biggest slice of the budget with P698.4 billion.
The amount “will be used to close goods-and-service delivery gaps in public education, health, and social protection for the poor and vulnerable in the next fiscal year,” he added.
Economic services would be allotted P511.1 billion, up by 16.4 percent from its 2012 budget of P439 billion to support rapid, sustained, and inclusive growth that redounds to all Filipinos in a direct, immediate, and sustainable manner, he said.
General public services will take the third largest share with a P346.1-billion allocation, higher by eight percent than its current appropriation of P320.3 billion.
Debt payments will eat up P333.9 billion, while defense will cost taxpayers a total of P89.7 billion by 2013.
By agency allocation, the Department of Education will continue to have the biggest share with a P292.7-billion allocation, up by 22.6 percent from this year’s level, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways with P152.9 billion, up by 21 percent.
The other agencies with the biggest budgets are the Department of National Defense, P121.6 billion; Department of the Interior and Local Government, P121.1 billion; Department of Agriculture, P74.1 billion; Department of Health, P56.8 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P56.2 billion; Department of Transportation and Communications, P37.1 billion; Department of Finance, P33.2 billion; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P23.7 billion.
