00:00The government's budget for 2025 is higher than this year, reaching more than 6 trillion pesos.
00:08But the confidence and intelligence fund is down by 16 percent.
00:14Tina Panganiban-Perez has the story.
00:19The government's budget for 2025 is 6.352 trillion pesos.
00:27This is more than 10 percent higher than the 2024 national budget.
00:32Confidential and intelligence funds reach 10.286 billion pesos.
00:40This is lower by 16 percent compared to the 2024 budget.
00:45The deliberation for the 2024 national budget will be delayed.
00:49It became controversial to talk about confidential and intelligence funds
00:53by the Office of the Vice President, which was removed from the budget of the OVP.
00:58In the 2025 budget, the OVP did not request an allocation for this.
01:05Confidential and intelligence funds were only accepted by the Office of the President,
01:12which has more than 4 billion pesos.
01:14If you'll notice, based on the breakdown that I gave,
01:18they are the only ones who can have confidential and intelligence funds.
01:23That's why it went down by 16 percent.
01:27They also lowered the fund for social welfare, public works, health sector,
01:32and agriculture and agrarian reform.
01:35The increase of the requested budget for the Department of Transportation,
01:40was more than doubled compared to the 2024 budget.
01:44Most of it are foreign-assisted projects.
01:48We need to pay our government counterpart for these projects.
01:56The biggest one is the Metro Manila Subway Project Phase 1,
02:05the Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility,
02:09and the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Project.
02:14That's why the increase is big.
02:17The total budget for the assistance will be 253.4 billion pesos in 2025,
02:24including 114 billion pesos for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps.
02:31A portion of the budget for the next year will be funded by the government.
02:36The government expects only 4.6 trillion pesos.
02:40Of course, we will borrow money from our lenders, creditors, both local and international.
02:50The House of Representatives has the power to change the budget proposed by the Executive
02:55as long as it does not exceed the proposed value.
02:59For now, there are recommendations to add some assistance.
03:03For us here in the House of Representatives,
03:06the call is strong to add funds for the 4Ps of the DSWD
03:12and other programs for those in the society.
03:17The Philippine Minimum Wage Earners should also be given sufficient financial assistance
03:22under the ACA Program.
03:26Especially during a time of crisis brought by wars in other countries.
03:30The Camera's target is to approve the proposed budget before its recess in October.
03:36For GMA Integrated News, Tina Panganiban-Perez, Nakatutok, 24 Hours.
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