Senate ratifies P2.006-T budget for 2013

The Senate on Wednesday ratified the P2.006-trillion national budget for 2013 after the bicameral committee approved the proposed General Appropriations earlier in the day.

Only Senator Joker Arroyo opposed the ratification, saying Congress was remiss in its duty to scrutinize the budget. He also voted against the Senate approved the budget on Nov. 28. 

 

"Substantially they are the same,” Arroyo noted, referring to the versions of the House, Senate, and Office of the President. “If that is the case... What are we... we just meet here? We might as well have a caucus between the two Houses and the Department of Budget and Management and agree what the budget should be," he added.

 

Senate finance committee chair Senator Franklin Drilon said the highest allocation would be for education, the Department of Health (DOH), and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.  

 

“The approved budget reflects the thrust of the President on social services,” he told reporters in an interview on Wednesday.

 

The Department of Education will get the highest budget with P292.7 billion.

 

The share of the departments are: 

 

Drilon said the Public Works Department was given enough money to pursue the Aquino administration's infrastructure projects.

 

But he noted that the total allocation for the Health Department still depends on the passage of the sin tax bill – expected to boost the health sector budget to P80 billion.

 

Meanwhile, Drilon said P100 million was deducted from the General Appropriations Act as requested by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

 

The P100 million is Lacson's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which he does not use.

  

“That was deleted from the budget to make sure that it’s not used.  We removed P100 million from the budget so the budget would be P2.006 trillion minus P100 million,” Drilon added. — VS, GMA News