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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Congress okays 2007 budget
MANILA -- The Senate on Monday ratified the P1.126 trillion budget for 2007.
In his sponsorship speech, Senate finance committee chairman Franklin Drilon said the proposed P1.126 trillion General Appropriations Act of 2007 will be "a national budget that does not focus solely on the imperatives of economic growth but also pursues growth with equity."
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"We are certain that this budget will not only facilitate government operations this year but more importantly we are proud that we have labored with this important piece of legislative work that will hopefully make a difference in the lives of 85 million Filipinos," Drilon said.
Malacañang welcomed Congress' ratification of the 2007 budget.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the approved budget would form part of the administration's social payback for the tough fiscal and economic reforms that have been implemented in the past two years.
Bunye, who is also the Presidential spokesman, said government can now do more infrastructure projects and implement more social services such as education and health.
The budget forged a reconciled version of the measure last week after Drilon and Albay Representative Joey Salceda, House appropriation committee chairman, reached a compromise agreement on a contentious P4.7 billion school feeding program.
Drilon said the 2007 budget would finally address the shortage problem of public school teachers and the lack of public school classrooms and provide the needed funds to improve government's services in public health.
The budget, he added, would also provide for a P10-billion calamity fund to assist in the reconstruction of areas devastated by recent typhoons. It will also grant Malacañang the authority to use funds to pay the long-overdue salary increases of government employees.
Explaining the compromise reached at the bicameral committee on the controversial school feeding program, Drilon revealed that the Senate and the House panels agreed that instead of distributing rice in schools, the funds would be used to build more classrooms, distribute nutritional supplements, and hire more teachers.
Under the agreement, P2.613 billion would be allocated to the Department of Education's (DepEd) school building program. The funds would be used to build 5,400 more classrooms on top of 12,226 new classrooms that Malacañang has already programmed.
Drilon said the bicameral panel also agreed to allocate P2 billion to distribute food supplements such as milk, coco-pandesal, and vegetable-based noodles to address the malnutrition problem among some school children.
"This (approved 2007 budget) will address the malnutrition problem among our school children, which is the original intent of DepEd's nutrition program," he noted.
An additional P873 million is allocated for the creation of more teaching positions. This would raise the DepEd's budget for new teachers to about P2 billion.
"An additional P65 million has been allocated to the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for more scholarships. To provide much needed support in the form of scholarships and construction of buildings, we have allocated an additional amount of P212.70 million for the University of the Philippines System (UPS)," Drilon explained.
The bicameral panel also agreed to retain the P400-million intelligence fund of the Office of the President.
It, likewise, allocated P10 billion for the rehabilitation of areas badly affected by typhoons. About P500 million of the Department of Agriculture (DA) allocation will be provided for livelihood programs of farmers whose lands and crops were devastated by the typhoons.
Drilon said the budget would also focus the scarce national resources available towards the improvement in the delivery of health services. (CPB/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (January 30, 2007 issue)
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