AUG 15, 2016

NR # 4293C

House leadership receives P3.35T

proposed national budget for 2017 from DBM
The leadership of the House of Representatives today received from the Department
of Budget and Management (DBM) the P3.35-trillion national budget proposal for Fiscal
Year 2017, which was accompanied by a Budget Message from President Rodrigo Duterte
urging lawmakers to scrutinize and approve it for next year.
House leaders led by Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, Appropriations Committee
Chairman Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles (1st District, Davao City), Majority Leader
Rodolfo C. Farias, Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez, Deputy Speakers Fredenil H.
Castro, Raneo E. Abu, Eric D. Singson and House Secretary-General Cesar S. Pareja were
among those who attended the turnover of the 2017 national budget proposal from DBM
Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Diokno said the proposed budget dubbed as A Budget for Real Change focuses
resources on programs and projects that will achieve the Duterte administrations 10-point
socioeconomic development agenda.
Of the P3.35 trillion national budget, Diokno said: 40 percent will be for
empowering human resources through education, healthcare, social welfare and other
social services; 27.6 percent for economic services to fix the broken infrastructure
network, boost agricultural and rural sector, and generate more jobs and livelihood; and 22
percent for general public services and defense.
The breakdown of allocations for the 10-point socioeconomic development agenda
of the Duterte administration according to Diokno is as follows : infrastructure, P860.7
billion which is 13.8 percent higher than this years budget; rule of law, P119.4 billion for
the Philippine National Police (PNP) which is 24.6 percent higher than this year and
P130.6 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to support the
administrations drive against crime, illegal drugs and terrorism, and P32.5 billion to
declog the courts; agriculture and agrarian reform P120.5 billion; technology and
innovation, P3.56 billion for the Department of Information and Communications (DICT)
and P20.8 billion for the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); education,
P699.95 billion; health, P151.5 billion; social welfare and sustainable livelihood, P129.9
billion for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and P13.5 billion
for the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); energy, P5.6 billion for
electrification; and disaster risk reduction and environmental protection, P37.3 billion for
the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) and PP29.4
billion for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
In his Budget Message to lawmakers, Duterte said more than being a collection of

figures and provisions, the proposed 2017 national budget is the embodiment of our
peoples clamor for real change and a compassionate government.
The President said his commitment to implement real change lies at the core of the
proposed budget. This is my administrations first budget. It is a budget that gives flesh
and bone to the promise by which I won as President which is to fight for social justice. It
was designed to realize change in the here and now. This budget is for the people and by
the people.
Nograles vowed the House of Representatives will not falter in its role of enacting a
2017 national budget on time.
With the Speakers support, together with the Majority Leader and all the members
of the supermajority, including the minority, Im confident that together, we will play our
respective roles as representatives of the people and we will pass a budget that we will all
be proud of, said Nograles.
Being the first budget proposal of the new administration, Nograles said lawmakers
expect the budget to focus on the primary objectives of the President, as he clearly
enunciated over the course of the campaign namely, peace and order, anti-drugs, anticorruption, wider infrastructure, better transportation, education, health and social
protection, and enhanced opportunities for Mindanao, the Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) and more provinces.
As you all know, the 2017 budget of P3.35 trillion is 11.6 percent higher than this
years budget which means we expect more programs of government that will be
responsive to the needs of our people, particularly the masses who elected our President
with an overwhelming mandate, said Nograles.
Following the DBM submission of the proposed national budget, the appropriations
committee will start its hearings on the allocation for each government department and
agency starting on Aug. 22 until Sept. 13. Plenary sponsorship of the budget bill is
expected on Sept. 19. (30) rbb