House approves P4.1-T budget for 2020 on 3rd reading

The House of Representatives gave its final nod on Friday night to the P4.1-trillion budget proposal of the Duterte administration for 2020 after only nine days of plenary discussions.

The vote  257-6, without abstention.

"We have passed a quality people’s budget in record time," Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said.

House Bill No. 4228  or the General Appropriation Bill for 2020 is the first budget to breach P4 trillion.  It prioritized funding for the education, infrastructure, security, Universal Health Care and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.  

The budget bill will also give at least P100 million to each lawmaker for their projects.

It was earlier certified as an urgent bill by Duterte, which paved the way for its approval on second and third reading on the same day.

The Senate is still deliberating the counterpart measure.

The swift approval was contrary to the 2019 budget, which was delayed due to the bickering between the senators and the congressmen.

The President was only able to sign the 2019 national budget into law last April that forced the government to operate on a reenacted budget for the first quarter of the year. 

Budget pie

Included on the 2020 budget are the key programs of the administration, namely: Universal Healthcare (P166.5 billion); National Health Insurance Program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (P92.2 billion); Department of Health Human Resources for Health Deployment (P7 billion); Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (P108.8 billion); Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (P70.6 billion); Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (P10 billion); Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (P641.6 million); and, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (P622.3 million).

The top 10 agencies with the highest appropriation are:

Department of Education, P673 billion
Department of Public Works and Highways, P534.3 billion
Department of the Interior and Local Government, P238 billion
Department of Social Welfare and Development, P195 billion
Department of National Defense, P189 billion
Department of Health, P166.5 billion
Department of Transportation, P147 billion
Department of Agriculture, P93.1 billion
The Judiciary, P38.7 billion 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P26.4 billion

—LDF, GMA News