(Eagle News)– The House of Representatives on Wednesday (October 5) approved on second reading the Duterte administration’s first national budget worth P3.35 trillion.
268 congressmen witnessed the approval of House Bill 3408 or the General Appropriations Bill for 2017.
The budget is expected to be approved on third reading after the chamber emerges from its break which runs from October 22 to November 6.
From August 22 to September 14, the appropriations committee conducted at least 33 hearings on the budget proposals of the different departments, their attached agencies and corporations, constitutional offices, the judiciary and other government offices.
The proposed budget is 11.6 percent higher than the this year’s budget of P3.002 trillion. It is 20.4 percent of the GDP compared to this year’s 20.1 percent of GDP, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The top 10 agencies that will receive major allocations are: Department of Education (DepEd), P567.5 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), P458.6 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), P150 billion; Department of National Defense (DND), P134.5 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), P129.9 billion; Department of Health (DOH), P94 billion; State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), P58.8 billion; Department of Transportation (DOTr), P55.4 billion; Department of Agriculture (DA), P45.2 billion; and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), P41.7 billion.