2006 Budget

Arroyo submits P1.05-T budget to Congress

Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net
INQ7.net

(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo submitted to Congress on Wednesday a proposed 1.05 trillion-peso budget for 2006, which lawmakers should give "utmost priority" to.

Almost one-third or 340 billion pesos of the budget have been allotted to debt interest payments, according to a copy of the proposal, which Budget Secretary Romulo Neri submitted to lawmakers.

As in previous years, the Department of Education got the lion's share among the government agencies, with 119.1 billion pesos, the same proposal said.

Meanwhile, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives will continue to get their priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or "pork barrel," amounting to 6.2 billion pesos.

Under the proposal, each House lawmaker will get 40 million pesos and each senator, 120 million pesos.

And despite moves by the President to amend the Charter, Neri admitted that there was no appropriation for such an initiative.

"I appeal to the legislature for its early consideration alongside the other equally urgent tasks facing Congress," the President said of the proposed budget, which is 16 percent higher than this year's outlay of 907 billion pesos.

Arroyo said the 2006 budget would be a "strategic weapon" against the oil crisis and a "strategic tool" to fight poverty.

"The budget will be both a heat shield to protect them against the vagaries of the world economy, and a building block for greater business confidence, grassroots enterprise and investments that will continue to spur jobs," she said in a statement.

About 330.5 billion pesos have been allotted to personnel services or the payroll of national government employees, an increase of 42 billion pesos from the 2005 outlay, according to the proposal.

This is due mainly to the eight to nine percent salary increase government workers will be getting next year, Neri said in a news briefing in Malacañang.

Despite its failed computerization program and questions on its credibility during the May 2004 election, the Commission on Elections will get a 135-percent increase in its budget or from this year's 1.4 billion pesos to 3.3 billion pesos in 2006.

Of the 3.3 billion pesos, 1.6 billion pesos will be used for the automation of the elections, particularly the modernization of data submission and counting systems, Neri said.

The budget secretary justified the absence of a budget for Charter change, saying this will not be necessary if the Senate and the House will convene into a constituent assembly to discuss the amendments.

"Congress may not need additional budget for Charter change. They can do it by holding morning sessions, they have their own resources," Neri said.

Only when Congress decides to elect delegates to form a constitutional convention will a special appropriation be made, Neri said.

Mario Relampagos, budget undersecretary, said the 10 million-peso allottment to operationalize the 50-man consultative commission to provide inputs to Congress on Charter change will be taken from the 2005 budget.

Following the DepEd, is the Department of Public Works and Highways, with 62.3 billion pesos. The Department of National Defense has been allotted 51.6 billion pesos; the Department of Interior and Local Governments, 45.6 billion pesos; and the Department of Agriculture, 15.6 billion pesos, according to the proposed budget.

The Senate and the House will get 4.5 billion pesos, it added.

Funding for the Internal Revenue Allocations of local government units has been pegged at 181 billion pesos, according to the proposal.

The People Power Commission will get 3 million pesos for "regular consultations with political and religious leaders," it said.

Saying that the Office of the President also needed money, Neri disclosed that Arroyo's office was given 3.6 billion pesos, part of which would go to intelligence funds.

Neri also said five billion pesos was allotted to the military's modernization program.