After marathon hearings in the past few weeks, the Senate approved on third and final reading today the proposed national budget for 2009, dubbed by government as its “fiscal stimulus package” for next year.
This year’s budget represents an increase of 188.3 billion or 15.35 percent over the current year’s adjusted budget, said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. “We imposed no cuts on the President’s budget proposal of 1.415 trillion, but we made certain realignments within agencies,” added Enrile who served as concurrent chairman of the Committee on Finance.
Under the proposed General Appropriations Act for 2009, the Department of Education received the highest allocation of 154.73 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways at 112.34 billion.
The Department of Agrarian Reform got 9.06 billion; 12.02 billion for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and 27.2 billion for the Department of Health. The budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development also increased to 10.1 billion for poverty alleviation programs.
During the Senate budget hearings, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya explained that the reason why budget allocations for these agencies were significantly increased was to stimulate job creation and other livelihood programs in the face of the global financial meltdown expected to hit the national economy early next year.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) received a 3.6 billion allocation, which is up by 55.9 percent from 2008 budget. A substantial increase is allocated for this department, particularly for the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program (AFMP), to provide for research and development needs of various State universities and colleges that specialize in agriculture and related courses, Enrile said.
The Senate President noted that the Finance Committee earmarked 122 million out of the DA budget under the AFMP.
The increase in the budget for research and development in agriculture would be more beneficial to the farmers and to the country's agriculture sector," said Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Finance sub-committee C that tackled the budget of the Department of Agriculture. He added that the areas that need further research are high value crops, biotechnology, biofuels, and livestock genetic upgrading.
New special provisions in the proposed 2009 budget include the establishment of computer database for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, hiring of new teachers with majors in mathematics, sciences, and English, and the use of modern housing technologies and materials by shelter agencies.
The general provisions stipulate that allocations for science and technology research shall be primarily geared towards food production, renewable energy, health, and job creation, and shall be released only upon the recommendation of the Department of Science and Technology, Enrile explained.
“We are very positive that this budget would be an indispensable tool that would help the people in dealing with the economic crisis that afflicts our country”, Enrile added. ###
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