Opening Statement: Briefing by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee on the Proposed FY 2017 National Government Budget

Opening Statement Senator Loren Legarda
Chair, Senate Committee on Finance
Briefing by the Development Budget Coordinating Committee
on the Proposed FY 2017 National Government Budget
30 August 2016 | Senate of the Philippines

Good morning.

Today, the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) will brief us on the proposed P3.35 Trillion National Government Budget for 2017.

As we open discussions on the 2017 national budget, I would like to stress on the importance of the task laid before us.

Your Committee on Finance will work closely with the country’s economic managers and all our government agencies, and consider our constituents’ concerns to ensure that the national budget for 2017 will indeed be ‘a budget for real change’.

We support the administration’s main thrusts to prioritize and improve education, ensure that more citizens have access to quality and efficient social services, and increase public spending in terms of infrastructure.

We also seek to attune the national budget with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are global aims to end poverty and hunger, improve health and education, make cities more sustainable, combat climate change, promote peace and justice for all, and protect the environment and biodiversity, among others.

As we express our support to the administration’s programs, your Committee on Finance will likewise ensure that it will scrutinize the national budget of 2017 in a manner that is transparent and consultative.

With that, I wish to start our discussions this morning.