The House of Representatives formally received the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) or the national budget that contains ₱5.768 trillion from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Wednesday, August 2.
The turnover happened in less than 10 days after the Congress formally opened the second session of the 19th Congress.
DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman turned over the 2024 NEP to House Speaker Martin Romualdez during a ceremony.
Just in> 2024 National Expenditure Program na nagkakahalaga ng 5.768- trillion pesos naisumite na sa Kamara. Pinangunahan nina House Speaker @MartinRomualdez, DBM Sec Amenah Pangandaman at iba pang mga opisyal @dzrhnews pic.twitter.com/S68FlI22CF
— milky rigonan 💋 (@milkyrigonan) August 2, 2023
In his speech, Romualdez said this year's national budget prioritizes food security, reduction of transport, logistic, and energy costs, health and social protection, and improving bureaucratic efficiency and fiscal management.
He noted that the early transmission of the budget will give the House ample time to discuss and deliberate the proposed NEP, which is regarded as the most important legislative measure.
"Dahil sa maagang pagtanggap ng 2024 NEP, asahan ninyo na mabilis din ang aksyon ng Kongreso para maipasa ang budget sa lalong madali panahon," Romualdez said.
The House Speaker vowed that they will ensure that the national budget will be spent wisely.
"Sisiguraduhin namin dito sa Kongreso na lahat ng buwis na binayad ng ating mamamayan ay babalik sa kanila sa pamamagitan ng programa at proyekto ng gobyerno. Bawat pisong naidagdag natin sa kaban ng bayan ay pakikinabangan ng taong-bayan," he added.
The 2024 national budget was five percent higher than last year's of ₱5.268 trillion.
Based on the briefer on the 2024 national budget, the social services sector will have the largest allocation with ₱2.183 trillion or 37.9 percent of the budget, and the economic services sector with ₱1.709 trillion or 29.6 percent of the budget.
The defense sector will have the least budget with ₱282.7 billion or 4.9 percent of the budget.
Meanwhile, the priority sectors this 2024 are as follows:
- Education - ₱924.7 billion
- Public Works - ₱822.2 billion
- Health - ₱306.1 billion
- Interior and Local Government - ₱259.5 billion
- Defense - ₱232.2 billion
- Transportation - ₱214.3 billion
- Social Welfare - ₱209.9 billion
- Agriculture - ₱181.4 billion
- Judiciary - ₱57.8 billion
- Labor and Employment - ₱40.5 billion
