The Department of Budget and Management on Monday submitted to the House of Representatives the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023, the first under the administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
The proposed appropriation for next year is 4.9% higher than this year's P5.02-trillion national budget, and is equivalent to 22.2% of the country's gross domestic product, said Budget Sec. Amenah Pangandaman.
"We will aim for food security, improved transportation, and affordable and clean energy," Pangandaman said.
READ: How Taxpayers' Money Becomes the National Budget
As mandated by the Constitution, the education sector remains the recipient of the biggest chunk of next year's proposed budget with P852 billion covering the Department of Education, state universities and colleges, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The agriculture sector, one of Marcos Jr.'s priority industries, will receive an increase of 39.2% with a budget of P184.1 billion to ensure food security and agricultural productivity as food shortages haunt the country.
Here are some of the priority sectors under the proposed 2023 national budget and their corresponding allocations:
- Education (DepEd, SUCs CHED, TESDA) - P852.8 billion
- Infrastructure (DPWH) - P718.4 billion
- Health (DOH) - P296.3 billion
- Social welfare (DSWD) - P197 billion
- Agriculture (DA) - P184.1 billion
To support the other priorities of the government, the Department of Transportation will receive a budget of P167.1 billion, and the Department of Energy with P476 million for its programs and projects.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez said they would deliberate on the proposed national budget "thoroughly, judiciously but with dispatch" as they expect to finish it on or before Congress goes on a break on Oct. 1.
"Every centavo of the national budget will be spent wisely to implement programs that would save lives, protect communities and make our economy strong and more agile," Romualdez said.
"The passage of the 2023 national budget will be transparent, this will be a product of the entire House of Representatives where the majority bloc will listen to the minority bloc, the concerns will be threshed out," he added.
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