Palace: Huge budget hike for social services
Credit to Author: Helen Flores| Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — To cushion the lingering effects of global inflation on the poor, the Marcos administration is proposing a P112.8-billion budget for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps for 2024.
The allocation will cover education and health grants for an estimated 4.4 million households, on top of rice subsidies, the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement yesterday.
The allocation for the program this year is P102.61 billion.
The Marcos administration has updated the list of 4Ps beneficiaries and delisted those who are no longer eligible to receive the support, to make room for a new batch of beneficiaries.
In July, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said a review of the beneficiaries is ongoing to determine who among them may “graduate” from the program.
Data showed that of the 1.3 million households being validated, 196,539 had been delisted for various reasons, including “natural attrition, waiving of membership and graduation from the program.”
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted to the House of Representatives on Aug. 2 the proposed P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024.
The proposed national budget is equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and 9.5 percent higher than the P5.268 trillion under the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
In his 46-page message addressed to the leaders of both houses of Congress, President Marcos said the proposed budget would fund the administration’s continuing pursuit of its goal of economic transformation, as embodied in the Philippine Development Plan for 2023 to 2028.
The Chief Executive said his long-term vision of prosperity for the country would be achieved by protecting the purchasing power of the public and enhancing the production sectors to generate more quality jobs and competitive products, supported by macroeconomic stability, infrastructure development, bureaucratic efficiency, strong rule of law and effective climate action.
Marcos said the country confronted strong headwinds in its path towards economic recovery last year, among which was inflation, which prompted the economic managers to formulate a Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.
The Philippine Statistics Authority on Friday said the country’s inflation rate eased for the sixth consecutive month in July to its lowest level in 16 months, driven by slower increases in utility and food costs.
For the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte, the proposed appropriation for next year is P2.37 billion, slightly higher than this year’s P2.34 billion.
The proposed allocation includes P500 million for confidential expenses, similar to the amount it received this year.
Based on the 2024 NEP, the proposed allocation for the OVP includes P192.7 million for personnel services (PS), P2.15 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and P41.2 million for capital outlay (CO).
For this year, the OVP has an allocation of P186.9 million for PS, P2.1 billion for MOOE and P64.87 million for CO.
Bulk of the OVP’s proposed budget for 2024 or P920.8 million – same as this year’s allocation – would be used for financial assistance and subsidies.
The next biggest items in OVP’s budget are confidential expenses at P500 million, supplies and materials at P342.7 million (from P272.2 million) and professional services at P98.68 million (from P193.95 million).
The OVP has proposed higher budget for travel expenses for 2024 (from P59.5 million to P62.5 million), rent and lease expenses (from P32.48 million to P59.92 million) and general services (from P9.87 million to P42.66 million).
The higher budget for supplies and materials and lease expenses may be due to the new satellite offices established by the OVP under Duterte.
The OVP currently has extension offices in Lipa, Batangas and Tondo, Manila and 10 satellite offices in Davao, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Surigao, Cebu, Bacolod, Tacloban, Isabela, Dagupan and Legazpi.
The Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte also heads, will double its budget for its School-Based Feeding Program to P11.7 billion, according to House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto.
And if the proposed P4.1 billion for the DSWD’s Supplementary Feeding Program were added, the total budget for the government’s child feeding program would reach P15.8 billion next year – a P5-billion jump from this year’s allocation.
“The increase is unprecedented,” Recto said. “Never has the budget for child feeding been supersized to this big. On this, the government has put its money where its mouth is,” he added.
Based on Recto’s computation using the 2023 allocation, the P15.8 billion would allow the DepEd and the DSWD to serve about 857 million meals to children with nutritional deficiency.
Recto said costing for 2024 might still be adjusted for inflation, “but it will not change the fact that the two agencies will have in their hands a big catering operation next year.”
He said the rise in food inflation, which began during the pandemic, “has resulted in recent disturbing statistics on child malnutrition.”
Meanwhile, the NEP prepared by the DBM sets a lower budget for the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) for next year.
Records show a total of P7,255,812,000 budget is being pushed for DICT next year, which is 12.5 percent lower than the P8,289,778,000 allocated for the department for this year. Budget officials did not explain the cut.
In the 2023 NEP, a lower budget of P7.23 billion was proposed for DICT compared to what it got under the 2022 GAA. This was because the agency had under-utilized its budget for 2022. — Sheila Crisostomo, Marc Jayson Cayabyab