PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. certified as urgent on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, House Bill 8980, or the General Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2024.
Marcos said he certified the enactment of the bill as urgent to ensure the funding of different government programs and projects next year.
“In order to address the need to maintain continuous government operations following the end of the current fiscal year (FY), to expedite the funding of various program, projects, and activities for FY 2024, and to ensure budgetary preparedness that will enable the government to effectively perform its Constitutional mandate,” he said in a letter addressed to House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
In response, Romualdez said the General Appropriations Bill is being deliberated on and is expected to be approved by the plenary next week.
“We hope that he will be able to sign it before Christmas para ‘yung sa ginagawa po natin binibigyan natin ang ating mga kapatid sa Senado sufficient time to review and to actually introduce amendments para maba-bicam natin by end of November, December in time for the signing of the President before Christmas,” he said in an interview after the 3rd Ledac meeting in Malacañang.
The National Government is requesting for P5.77-trillion budget for next year, 9.5 percent higher than the FY 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The DBM earlier said that P4.020 trillion will be allotted to government operating requirements and funding for agencies, while P1.748 for automatic appropriations, including the National Tax Allotment (NTA) for local government units, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Annual Block Grant, and debt service, among others.
Almost 70 percent of the FY 2024 budget is allocated for economic and social service, 29.6 percent and 37.9 percent, respectively, while the rest are allocated for general public services at 15.5 percent, debt burden 12.1 percent, and defense 4.9 percent.
The education sector will get a higher budget for next year at P924.7 billion, public works at P822.2 billion, health at P306.1 billion and transportation with P214.3 billion.
The budget also includes P5.77 billion for intelligence funds and P4.864 for confidential funds.
The proposed intelligence funds for 2024 is slightly higher than the P5.217 billion sought by the administration in its first year in office but lower than the intelligence funds in 2022 which was P6.405 billion.
Almost half of the proposed intelligence and confidential funds will be allocated to the Office of the President while the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, which are both under Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio, will get P500 million and P150 million, respectively.
The Department of National Defense will get P1.81 billion in intelligence funds and P87 million in confidential funds.
Intelligence is being used for information-gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel, and intelligence practitioners that have a direct impact on national security. These may only be released upon the approval of the President and agencies are required to submit a quarterly accomplishment report on the use of the funds.
Confidential expenses, on the other hand, may be used upon the approval of the department secretary for surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are intended to support its mandate or operations. (SunStar Philippines)