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NewsTranscript
00:00Meanwhile, President Bongbong Marcos passed the national budget for 2025, which is P6.326 trillion pesos.
00:08That's lower than approved by the Bicameral Committee because some projects were left under the DPWH,
00:15as well as the part of the unprogrammed appropriations.
00:18Here is my first news.
00:21The approved 2025 General Appropriations Act or the national budget for the next year is P6.326 trillion.
00:32P6.326 trillion is lower than the approved budget by the Bicameral Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
00:37The President did not approve the P6.326 trillion pesos under the DPWH,
00:44which was added by the Congress in their approved version.
00:47Now, here is the P168 billion part of the unprogrammed appropriations.
00:51After an exhaustive and thorough review, we have directly vetoed over P194 billion worth of the line items that are not consistent with our program priorities.
01:03These include allocations for certain programs and projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways
01:09and those under the unprogrammed appropriations which increased by 300 percent.
01:15Under the approval of the DPWH, it is now clear that the allocation of funds for the education sector is the largest according to Palacio.
01:24This is one of the reasons why the budget of the Bicam was approved.
01:28This is contrary to the Constitution which states that the budget for education should be the largest.
01:34Under the P6.326 trillion budget, 1.055 trillion or 16.69 percent is allocated for education,
01:43including the funds of CHED, TESDA, state universities and colleges,
01:47and a portion of the funds is allocated for the higher wages of teachers and classrooms.
01:52More than P10 billion was allocated for the computerization program of the DepEd,
01:57and it was not returned, but the DBM stated that this is one of the priorities for the allocation of funds under the unprogrammed appropriations.
02:04As long as we have additional revenue from the DOF, we can actually increase the budget of DepEd, specifically for computerization.
02:151.007 trillion or 15.93 percent is the budget allocated for the DPWH.
02:22Some of the projects that have been vetoed are actually some of the projects that we consider that are not totally supportive to the eight-point socioeconomic agenda of the government, of this administration.
02:38And besides, I think many of these projects are projects that need to be scrutinized and ready for implementation.
02:51These are some of the projects that are not ready for implementation.
02:54It was not vetoed, but the conditions for the allocation of funds for the controversial fund of ACAP,
03:00or Ayuda para sa Kaposangkita, sponsored by the DSWD, DOLE and NEDA, were vetoed for P26 billion.
03:07I applaud this because the aid should not go to the congresses and their pork barrel can only be used.
03:14Who will really go to this ACAP? The services?
03:19There should be an additional budget instead of saying that the workers will receive additional aid.
03:26We can check that. Those people who notice that, they can complain.
03:31And then we will go to investigate.
03:34You see, we cannot just, you know, our law presumes good faith in everyone.
03:41All actions in good faith.
03:43If you have bad faith, that's when you come now.
03:46Your religion or the people you agree with.
03:49Aside from ACAP, there are 11 other projects that need to be scrutinized for implementation.
03:53The zero subsidy in PhilHealth, which was also one of the projects that was vetoed by the budget of BICAM,
03:58has not been returned and remains zero.
04:00But there is nothing to worry about because not only will it continue,
04:03but the services of PhilHealth will be expanded in spite of the government's zero subsidy.
04:08Congress did that because the budget for the corporate operating budget of PhilHealth is sufficient.
04:17So they have reserved funds of roughly 280 billion.
04:22We in the Department of Finance, next year, we will invest in PhilHealth.
04:26We will make sure that we spend that budget better.
04:31Maybe we should concentrate on the top 10 illnesses.
04:34I don't think you have to increase 9,000 case rates.
04:37The budget of the Office of the President includes 5.2 billion pesos.
04:41But this is just the beginning of the preparations for the hosting of the ASEAN Summit of the Philippines in 2026.
04:47The increase in the budget was accompanied by a wave of protests.
04:51According to the Black people, they should have vetoed this whole thing.
04:54That's what they're thinking. Let's transfer this here, let's transfer this here.
04:57Let's add this so that the people won't be exasperated.
05:00If you just veto a few line items, what they need is a review.
05:04It should have been done, it should have been brought back to Congress,
05:07so that the funds can be added for public services and not for patronage, politics and pork barrel.
05:14The palace is in favor of the budget approved by the President.
05:17But they admitted that they cannot stop the protests here.
05:21We are confident, but we cannot prevent.
05:24If there will be challenges that will be mounted by any quarter,
05:30who might still find this present budget as approved, worthy of the challenge.
05:36According to Senate President Chisa Escudero,
05:39even if it will take a long time, it is important to sign the 2025 GAA before the year ends,
05:45so that there will not be a reenacted budget.
05:47Now that the budget has passed, the government's programs should be implemented immediately.
05:52According to House Speaker Martin Romualdez,
05:54the President's and the Congress' commitment to improve the lives of Filipinos is based on the budget.
06:00This is the first news. Ivan Merina for GMA Integrated News.
06:24For more UN videos visit www.un.org