The 16th Congress passed the proposed P22.5 billion supplemental budget for the current fiscal year after the House of Representatives beat its self-imposed deadline on its approval.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. had pledged to have the supplemental outlay approved by the House two days before the Congress adjourned for its traditional Christmas break on Dec. 17, 2014.
After the chamber approved the measure, the Senate followed suit and transmitted its version with minor changes back to the House.
The House approved the Senate’s minor amendments, a move that capped 2014’s last day of session of the 16th Congress.
Belmonte, the honorary chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), said the approval of the additional appropriations would fund urgent projects, activities and programs, such as the ongoing rehabilitation efforts for the victims of supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) that have not been financed out of the 2014 budget.
Some P8 billion of the supplemental budget will go to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the construction of permanent housing units for Yolanda victims.
Another P2 billion will go to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which will implement the temporary shelter assistance program for Yolanda victims.
The other beneficiaries of the supplemental outlay includes the Philippine National Police, which will get P2.8 billion for its “operational transformation plan.” This involves the procurement of more patrol vehicles and firearms which was earlier included in the government’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
Certain provisions of the DAP, which began in 2011, were declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last July. The ruling prevented the government from pushing through with the implementation of the rest of the projects in the program.
Other DAP-related projects funded by the supplemental budget include the setting up of free public WiFi hotspots by the Department of Science and Technology, P978 million for the rehabilitation of the Light Rail Transit lines 1 and 2, P340 million for the Philippine Coconut Authority, P250 million for the completion of the House legislative library and archives building, and P5.2 million for the transfer of the Quezon City prosecutors’ and public attorneys’ offices.
The supplemental budget will also fund the DAP’s P240 million development assistance program to Quezon province, P287 million for the National Housing Authority (NHA) to be used for the relocation of squatters at its North Triangle property near Trinoma Mall in Quezon City, P340 million for the Philippine Coconut Authority, P196 million for the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority and P199 million for the purchase of 33 fire trucks for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Some P1.8 billion of the supplemental budget is allocated to the Department of Public Works and Highways for the completion of stalled projects under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which was also declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.