Aquino admin submits proposed 2014 Budget to Congress

Sec. Abad: New expenditure plan a blueprint for inclusive growth

A day after President Benigno Aquino III delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA), Secretary of Budget Florencio “Butch” Abad will be submitting to Congress today the National Expenditure Program for FY 2014—a blueprint of the Aquino Administration’s development agenda to sustain the country’s economic expansion and advance rapid, inclusive growth.

The proposed P2.268-trillion National Budget for 2014, which is 13.1 percent higher than this year’s P2.006-trillion program, accounts for key expenditure requirements for social development and inclusive growth initiatives under the Aquino administration.

“We intend to channel more investments into infrastructure development and other public services that are pivotal to our pursuit of rapid, sustained and inclusive growth. At the same time, we’re intensifying our efforts at refining our social welfare and development programs, in line with the Administration’s goal of strengthening our own human capital. The proposed 2014 budget has therefore been designed to respond comprehensively to this urgent, two-fold need to ensure growth and inclusion in the country,” Abad said.

Under the proposed budget, infrastructure development will be supported by a P399.4-billion allocation in 2014, comprising 3 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and registering a 35.5 percent increase from the P294.7 billion allotted for the sector this year.

Abad confirmed plans to further increase investments on infrastructure to P587 billion and P824 billion in 2015 and 2016, respectively, in line with the Aquino Administration’s commitment to raise infrastructure spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2016.

The Aquino administration’s infrastructure development plan supports the implementation of major public works programs nationwide, including the construction of irrigations systems (P21.1 billion for new irrigation systems for 59,591 hectares, as well as the rehabilitation and restoration of 17,634 and 8,894 hectares of land, respectively) and farm-to-market roads (P12 billion).

Meanwhile, the Administration’s Transport Infrastructure Program will also receive a whopping P180.1 billion in 2014, 63.7 higher than this year’s allocation. To help meet the Administration’s target of 6.8 million international and 47.7 million domestic tourists, the Department of Public Works and Highways will receive P14.5 billion for the construction and maintenance of 679 kilometers of access roads to tourism destinations.

“These efforts will support the continued revitalization of our most promising sectors, such as tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and manufacturing. Under the proposed 2014 expenditure plan, we can broaden our budgetary support for these prime industries to bolster our economic competitiveness, spur investment, and further generate jobs for Filipinos,” he added.

The proposed 2014 National Budget will also expand the budget for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to P62.6 billion, which will cover 4.44 million households and 10.2 million children beneficiaries, as well as provide additional support to high school students. Philhealth will also have an increased budget of P35.3 billion from P12.6 billion this year to provide preventive healthcare services and health insurance coverage to 14.7 million qualified families.

Another P336.9 billion set for the Department of Education’s (DepEd)_2014 budget will allow the agency to further improve the quality of basic education in the country and give equal access to education to all school-aged children, especially the poor and marginalized. Of this, P44.6 billion will be used for the construction of 43,183 classrooms, as well as the rehabilitation and repair of 9,503 classrooms and the acquisition of 1.6 million classroom seats, among others.

“The National Budget is President Aquino’s blueprint for inclusive growth in the country. By managing our resources judiciously and shaping our expenditure goals to fit the Administration’s broader development agenda, we not only boost our prospects for fiscal advancement; we also create equal opportunities for growth for every citizen.

“We’ve already witnessed the steady and consistent improvement of the country’s economic performance under the Aquino administration. Now, we’re bringing these successes to bear on the lives of every Filipino,” Abad said.

The budget secretary also cited the new output- and outcome-based presentation of the 2014 National Expenditure Program through the adoption of the Performance-Informed Budget (PIB) structure.

“We’re transforming the face of the National Budget so it becomes performance-informed, where each allocation is tightly woven with the development outcomes that we want to achieve. With this, each program and project that we spend on is clearly linked to major final outputs that departments and agencies must deliver according to their mandates. In other words, may malinaw na kwento na ngayon ang bawat kwenta,” he said.

THE PROPOSED 2014 BUDGET BY SECTOR
•Social Services will continue to have the biggest share of the budget at 37.2 percent, amounting to P842.8 billion, a 20.5 percent increase from this year’s P699.4 billion allocation.
•Economic Services will expand by 15.9 percent or P81 billion next year to P590.2 billion, getting the second largest percent share of the 2014 proposed budget at 26 percent.
•General Public Services will be cornering a 16.1-percent share of the whole budget with a total allocation of P364.5 billion, up by P17.2 billion from this year’s budget.
•Debt Services will continue to drop to P352.7 billion, posting a lower share of 15.5 percent from 20 percent in 2010, due to the Administration’s active efforts at reducing the country’s fiscal deficit and debt levels.
•Defense will have a 3.7-percent or P3.3 billion increase next year, with a total proposed allocation of P92.9 billion. This will help enable the effective expansion of the country’s territorial defense and law enforcement capabilities.

dbm.gov.ph