By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his Cabinet approved last Monday, July 9, the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget.
“Kahapon po ay na-approve po ng Gabinete iyong ating budget for 2019 – at ang ating budget po ay 3.757 trillion (Yesterday, the Cabinet approved our budget for 2019, and our budget is P3.757 trillion),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said in a press briefing in Indang, Cavite on Tuesday, July 10.
Mr. Roque also said: “Ang major expense po natin ay (Our major expenses are): personnel services, P1.185 trillion (31.5%); maintenance expenditures, P562.9 billion (15%); capital outlays, P752.7 billion (20%); allotment to local government units (LGUs), P640.6 billion (17.1%); support to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), P187.1 billion (5%); tax expenditures, P14.5 billion (0.4%); and debt burden which is 414.1 billion (11%).”
In a text message to reporters on Tuesday, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said, “The 2019 budget amounting to P3.757 trillion was approved by President Duterte and the Cabinet in a marathon meeting last night that ended until 2:00 a.m.”
He also said the budget “will be 19.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP).”
The proposed 2019 cash-based budget is slightly less than the P3.767-trillion obligation-based budget this year.
The 2019 national budget is the first appropriation to be cash-based, whereby allocations can be disbursed only within the fiscal year, while an obligation-based budget allows implementing agencies to disburse funds over two years.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had said that it targets to submit the proposed 2019 budget to Congress on July 23, the day of Mr. Duterte’s mid-term State of the Nation Address (SONA).

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