Mindanao Times

Duterte OKs P4.1-T 2020 nat’l budget

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MANILA -- President Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the proposed national budget for 2020 worth PHP4.1 trillion, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Presidenti­al Spokespers­on Salvador Panelo said Duterte approved the proposed 2020 cash-based national budget during the Cabinet meeting that started Monday (Aug. 5) night.

The PHP4.1-trillion budget is 12 percent more than this year’s PHP3.7trillion expenditur­e program.

Last year, Duterte submitted the proposed PHP3.7-trillion national budget for 2019 to Congress, on the same day he delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).

However, the government operated on a reenacted budget since January 1 this year after lawmakers failed to pass the bill on time due to a budget impasse in Congress.

Duterte finally signed the 2019 budget but vetoed several provisions on April 15, 2019.

Malacañang has yet to announce when it will be transmitti­ng the budget proposal to the Congress but has 30 days from his fourth SONA to do so or until August 22.

In a statement, Panelo described the budget proposal as one that would “respond to the needs” of majority of Filipinos.

“This budget proposal is designed to respond to the needs of the majority of our countrymen longing to be uprooted from the decades of: want of basic necessitie­s, inadequate supply of basic services, lack of infrastruc­tures required to spur economic growth, absence of accountabi­lity on government coffers, vexing bureaucrat­ic rigmarole, deprived education and unchanged poverty, and geared to achieve a more peaceful and progressiv­e Philippine­s where the living standards of Filipinos are raised,” Panelo said.

Panelo assured the public that the budget’s biggest slice will be allotted to education, followed by public works, transporta­tion, and health.

Moreover, he said the budget will be spent “wise

ly to reach a state of vibrant economy that will be felt by the citizenry.”

The Palace has expressed hope that the 2020 budget would be approved without any delays.

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