MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is set to submit the P3.757-trillion 2019 national budget to Congress, the first cash-based budget under his administration, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Friday. 

In a statement, the DBM said Duterte approved the cash-based budget during a Cabinet meeting last July 9 to enable efficient delivery of public services and fiscal discipline.

“The shift to cash-based budgeting will speed up the implementation and completion of priority projects of the government,” said Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. 

Under the cash-based regime of the DBM's Budget Reform Program, agencies will be required to deliver goods and services within the fiscal year instead of just making promises to pay, Diokno said. 

Diokno explained that before shifting to the cash-based budget, agencies were only required to obligate their funds or enter into contracts within the year for it to be considered spent. 

The proposed cash-based budget for next year is higher by 13.2 percent or P439.4 billion compared to its equivalent in the 2018 budget, the DBM said.

The president is scheduled to submit the proposed budget to Congress on July 23, the same day he is set to deliver his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).

BUDGETARY PRIORITIES

Proposed priorities in the 2019 budget include infrastructure and social services, the DBM said.

By sector allocation, social services account for 36.7 percent of the entire budget or P1.377 trillion, followed by economic services at 28.4 percent or P1.068 trillion, general public services at 18.9 percent or P709.1 billion, debt burden at 11 percent or P414.1 billion, and defense at 5.0 percent or P188.2 billion. 

Total cash-based appropriation for infrastructure was set at P874.8 billion or equivalent to 4.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the DBM said.

By expense class, the cash-based budget was divided into personnel services at 31.5 percent or P1.185 trillion, capital outlays at 20 percent or P752.7 billion, allotment to local government units (LGUs) at 17.1 percent or P640.6 billion, maintenance expenditures at 15 percent or P562.9 billion, debt burden at 11 percent or P414.1 billion, support to Government-owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) at 5 percent or P187.1 billion and tax expenditures at 0.4 percent or P14.5 billion.

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