The Senate has approved the proposed P2.006-trillion national budget for 2013, with President Benigno Aquino III expected to sign the budget bill into law by December 20.
Virgil Lopez of Sun.Star Online reports the Department of Education will get the largest share of funding, with a budget of P292.7 billion. DepEd’s budget for next year is 22.6 percent higher than this year’s allocation of P238.b billion. According to the report, "P54 billion increase in funding will help address shortages in classrooms, teachers, and textbooks, and implementation of the K+12 program."
"Only Senator Joker Arroyo opposed (the budget’s) passage, saying Congress has surrendered the so-called power of the purse when it failed to scrutinize the budget, particularly on lump-sum appropriations," the report said. Lump-sum appropriations give spending agencies more leeway on how public money is used.
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