Malacañang defends additional P17-B on the budget of the President’s office next year
A high official of the Malacañang Palace defended the big increase on the budget of the office of President Rodrigo Duterte for next year 2017.
This is after allocating P20.03 billion for next year. The amount is around P17 billion more than the P2.87 billion budget that the said office has for 2016.
On Wednesday, Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella justified the planned budget increase, saying “needs have increased.”
“Basically, the cost of running the government has increased. If you are asking for a justification, the needs have increased,” Abella said.
Abella however declined to detail the administration’s needs, as he still had to check the proposed budget.
Prior to this, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said bulk of the earmarked funds—more than P15 billion—is to serve as the country’s pool for its stint as host of the Association of Southeast Nations’ (ASEAN) 50th anniversary.
“There is a P15 billion item in OP for the hosting the 50th anniversary of ASEAN. This item, while at OP, will be distributed to concerned agencies during budget implementation,” Diokno told Rappler in a text message on Monday.
Aside from aiming to meet high expectations from the Philippines, being one of the alliance’s founding members, the government also hopes to gain large monetary and economic returns by hosting the event, Diokno said.
He clarified that the ASEAN kitty will not be for the sole use of the OP, and it is a “special, limited time fund” only for 2017.
“Hindi naman talaga ito sa Office of the President…ibibigay natin iyan sa departments,” Diokno said.
Aside from preparing for the cost of the ASEAN Golden Anniversary, other agencies’ needs have been included in the budget for the OP, as they have been “folded into” the OP.
For now, while the government has yet to detail the costs that an ASEAN Golden Anniversary will incur, Abella assured the public that the government is on top of preparations.
“I’m sure the other line agencies are already attending to that,” he said.
On Monday, Diokno turned over to Congress the proposed ₱3.35 trillion budget for 2017, which is 11.6% higher than this year’s budget.