Following the guidance of Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is likely to fully obligate its 2017 budget for the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
During the hearing for the proposed 2018 budget of the Department, Undersecretary Emmanuel Leyco, DSWD Officer-in-Charge, cited the intervention of Legarda to link them with other agencies of government to be able to fully utilize seven billion-peso worth of funds for SLP before it expires by the end of the year.
SENATOR Loren Legarda on Monday expressed alarm over the decline of the net foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Philippines as of the first half of 2017.
Legarda said that FDIs are an important measure in job generation, and its decline is a cause for concern.
Senator Loren Legarda today expressed concern over the decline of the net foreign direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines as of the first half of 2017, which was on an upward trend from 2011 until 2016.
Figures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) show that net FDIs for the period January-June 2017 show a decline of 14% or USD 3.59-billion from USD 4.18-billion during the same period in 2016. Net FDIs in 2011 were at USD 2.00-billion, which steadily increased in the succeeding years, and were highest in 2016 at USD 7.97-billion.
Citing the famous adage, “Knowledge is Power,” Senator Loren Legarda stressed the importance of providing sufficient funding for higher education, especially for state universities and colleges (SUCs), to shape knowledgeable communities.
During the hearing on the proposed 2018 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and SUCs, Legarda said that funding the needs of the country’s public tertiary education would encourage more students to enroll in SUCs, including in Science, Technology, Engineering, Agri-Fisheries and Mathematics (STEAM) courses.
