After almost two weeks of marathon plenary debates, the House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the Php1.126 trillion national budget for 2007. The money measure was done at 4:43 am, Friday, October the 13th - sounds quite a bad omen the way we Filipinos believe (hope not!) with an affirmative vote of 198, seven against and no abstention.
"Approving the spending measure is a fulfillment of our contract with our constituents who have sent us here", this was Speaker de Venecia's declaratory note shortly after the approval of the budget.
The top five departments which stand to receive the largest slice of the budget are:
- Department of Education - P132.9-billion
- Department of Public Works and Highways - P73.6-billion
- Department of Interior and Local Government - P51.1-billion
- Department of National Defense - P49.5-billion
- Department of Agriculture, inclusive of its Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Program component - P18.5-billion
The House-approved budget will then go to the Senate to undergo the same process. As budget t practitioners who are involved in the releases and implementation of the budget, it is our ardent hope that the 2007 budget will not suffer the same fate as that of the 2006.
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