THE Duterte administration will likely meet its targets for next year after the Senate ratified Wednesday the P3.350 trillion national budget for fiscal year 2017.
Senator Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said she is confident that the ratified report will be immediately presented to President Rodrigo Duterte for signing on December 22.
Legarda assured that the budget is free from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel, which was previously declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
“If you define pork based on a Supreme Court definition, it's post enactment. These are all line items within the budget even before its enactment,” Legarda explained.
She also maintained that the said budget is in line with the present administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda that will fund necessary services needed by the people.
Other highlights of the budget include the P8 billion increase in the budget of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), which Legarda said is primarily one of the most important parts of the budget.
Congress also approved a P3 billion increase in the PhilHealth, for the government's Universal Health Care Program that will cover indigent patients, wherein the government will have to shoulder hospitalization under the No Balance Billing policy passed by Congress.
There will also be higher allowances for inmates, more allotment for the hiring of more doctors and medical personnel, and more drug rehabilitation centers.
“Those are only some of the interventions we made [that's] why the budget of 2017 is different and we encourage agencies to use and spend the resources allotted for the poor Filipinos,” Legarda said.
Earlier, Davao Representative Karlo Nograles said the House contingent in the bicameral conference accepted the Senate’s position to allocate some P8.3 billion, originally allotted for development projects in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Armm), to the Commission on Higher Education (Ched).
He said the agreement between the two chambers was meant to remove the impasse on the budget and avoid further delays on its approval, thus paving way for the Duterte administration’s agenda for change, he noted.
“We are one with the position of President Duterte that we really need to develop Mindanao if we want to defeat the insurgency problem in the region, which is why we programmed infrastructure projects in Mindanao, including the Armm. But some members of the Senate said this could be in violation of the Armm Organic Act,” Nograles said.
At least 17 Senators voted for the ratification, while Senators Panfilo Lacson and Sherwin Gatchalian voted against it.
Senate Majority FLoor Leader Vicente Sotto III abstained from the voting without explanation. (Sunnex)