Senate begins debates on 2018 budget

The Senate on Thursday began plenary debates on the proposed PHP3.767 trillion national budget for 2018.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, sponsored the 2018 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) calling it “a budget that addresses the basics”.

“We fashioned a budget that we believe will translate the soaring rhetoric of our leaders into something solid. It is a budget that addresses the basics,” Legarda said in her sponsorship speech.

Legarda said the 2018 national budget was provided with a P10-billion budget under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) Fund.

It also has a P500-million subsidy for a loan facility for Marawi residents.

The senator said this is a zero-interest loan facility that Marawi residents can avail of.

Moreover, there is a P5-million allocation under the Mindanao State University.

The Philippine National Police will get to keep its P900-million budget for its campaign against illegal drugs despite public criticism on its links to the rise in the number of extrajudicial killings.

A total of P40 billion was allotted for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which would pave the way for free college education in all of the country’s state universities and colleges, local universities and colleges and state-run technical-vocational institutions, Legarda said.

An additional P10 million was provided for capital outlay and free Wi-Fi for all SUCs, and a P770 million allocation to help the Department of Education increase teacher’s chalk allowance.

The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development was provided with P89.408 billion, of which P31.68 billion is for rice subsidy.