MANILA, Aug. 5 (PNA) — A Malacanang executive reiterated on Wednesday that the proposed 2016 national budget will not be used as campaign fund of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) since the Aquino administration will only be serving until the first half of next year.
In a briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda cited the statement made by Department of Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad who said that next year’s budget would be a “legacy budget.”
Lacierda also pointed out that the public can review the proposed 2016 national budget during the budget deliberations in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
”So it’s up to them to go through, and we’d like to invite you to go through the budget of each and every department during the budget review in Congress,” he added.
The Aquino administration submitted to Congress the proposed PhP 3.002-trillion budget last July 28, a day after President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered his sixth and last State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA).
The proposed budget is 15.2 percent higher than this year’s PhP 2.606-trillion appropriation and almost double the PhP 1.541-trillion budget in 2010, the first year of the Aquino administration.
It would account to about 19.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), better than the 18.7 percent share in domestic output this year. (PNA)