Senator Loren Legarda sponsored the 2017 budget as they tag the budget that will help deliver change.
The Senate will start on Tuesday, November 15, its debates on the proposed P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017 under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
This was after the General Appropriations Bill that was sponsored by Senator Loren Legarda Monday, referring it as a budget that will help deliver change.
In her sponsorship speech, Legarda said, “the budget bill puts our people at the front and center of our agenda. It aims not just to create growth, but ensures that everyone benefits from the growth we will create together.”
Legarda said it can no longer be budget as usual like the previous administrations’, as she criticized the underspending done by the government as before.
“We need to have a budget that works – one that places money where they will make a real difference in improving the lives of our people,” the senator said.
According to the senator, the Philippines need to have an inclusive budget, one that will consider the needs of every Filipino without prejudice to age, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, ethnicity, faith and religion, and physical limitations.
She revealed that as of June 30, the government’s total unobligated allotments amounts to P156.98 billion.
If this amount was spent according to Legarda, this could have built 678,662 decent houses for the poor, 29,276 kilometers of farm-to-market roads, and more than 215,000 classrooms with toilets and furniture.
“Underspending simply means missed opportunities. It means denying our people the services they deserve,” Legarda said.
During the plenary session on Tuesday, the Senate is expected to deliberate on the general principles of the proposed national budget, and the allocated budgets of the Office of the President, Commission on Audit, Office of the Ombudsman, the Judiciary, and several government departments.