President Benigno S. Aquino III signs into law Republic Act No. 10633, the Php 2.265-trillion General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2014, in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Friday (December 20). Witnessing the ceremony are Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Representatives Pangalian Balindong, Maria Zenaida Angping, Cesar Sarmiento and Emil Ong. (MNS photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – With more than a week before the end of the year, President Benigno Aquino III on Friday signed the P2.265-trillion budget for 2014 sans the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
At a ceremony in Malacañang, Aquino signed the 2014 General Appropriations Act, which is 13 percent or P258.7 billion higher than the current year’s budget.
Of the P2.265-trillion budget, 37.2 percent (P841.8 billion) will go to social services; 26.2 percent (P593.1 billion) to economic services; 16.7 percent (P377.6 billion) to debt burden; 16 percent (P362.6 billion) to general public services; and 4 percent (P89.5 billion) to defense.
The 2014 budget is supposed to be free of PDAF, which has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, although budget watchdogs claimed discretionary funds were not completely removed from it.
According to the Department of Budget and Management, most of the P25.2 billion originally allocated for PDAF have been “rechanneled” to the regular programs and projects of agencies, especially those needed for response to recent disasters.
In a statement on Friday, Senate President Franklin Drilon commended the “speedy” approval of the budget, saying this will “translate to the timely activation of urgently needed services, particularly the rehabilitation of calamity-stricken areas.”
He specifically said that the funding appropriated to agencies involved in the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts “could be implemented and accessed in time by those who need them.”
The 2014 budget includes a P20-billion rehabilitation fund for areas devastated by Typhoon Yolanda and P80 billion in the unprogrammed fund to serve as “standby authority and ready authorization for spending for the foreign donations and grants for victims of typhoon Yolanda.”
Drilon said Congress also allocated P13 billion in calamity funds and P4.8 billion in quick response funds.
Earlier, Congress approved a P14.6-billion supplemental budget and extended the validity of the remaining P12-billion 2013 calamity funds by another fiscal year.
“All in all, there will be about P145 billion funds made available in 2014 for the government’s rehabilitation of areas damaged by the past calamities,” Drilon said.
“In crafting the budget, the Congress took into consideration the need for urgent aid to our countrymen burdened by the damages of disasters. The sizeable amount of funding is absolutely necessary to equip the government in fulfilling its responsibilities to those left helpless by the calamities,” he added. (MNS)