Defense allocation jumps 51% in 2025 budget
The Marcos administration is allocating P419.3 billion to the defense sector in the proposed 2025 national budget to boost its capabilities in upholding the country’s sovereignty and national territory amid recent developments in the West Philippine Sea.
In his 52-page budget message for the 2025 National Expenditure Program, which was transmitted to Congress on Monday, President Marcos said this proposed funding for next year is 50.8 percent higher than the P278.1 billion given to the defense sector in 2024.
He said the Department of National Defense will get P258.2 billion “to bolster our country’s defense capabilities” by acquiring and developing equipment and technologies and deploying adequate manpower “to secure the sovereignty of the state and the integrity of the national territory.”
In particular, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will receive P204.4 billion and the revised AFP modernization program will get P50 billion, or P10 billion more than this year’s allocation.
This is to “fulfill its mandate of developing the capability of the AFP to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, especially considering the recent developments in the West Philippine Sea,” Mr. Marcos said.
The Philippine Coast Guard will get P31.3 billion, of which P386 million will go to the PCG Hospital.
PNP, NTF-Elcac
As for funding for public order and community safety, the Philippine National Police will receive P206.2 billion, or P7.9 billion higher than this year’s P198.3 billion.
The President said P581 million will finance the creation of 2,000 new police officer positions to achieve a 1:583 police-to-population ratio, while P450 million will be used to construct 37 police stations across the country.
“We are also investing in the PNP’s digitalization efforts at P5.7 billion,” he said.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement will get P4 billion, while the Bureau of Fire Protection’s Fire and Emergency Management Program is allocated P26.3 billion to fund the construction of 40 fire stations and the purchase of 40 ambulances, 37 firetrucks and 12 collapsed rescue trucks.
Meanwhile, the Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) will receive P7.8 billion for the construction of farm-to-market roads, school buildings, water and sanitation systems, health stations and the electrification of 780 barangays that were declared free from communist rebels.
This is apart from P5.3 billion for the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan Program for the delivery of socioeconomic services to conflict-afflicted and conflict-vulnerable areas.
‘Anti-poor’ budget
The House leadership on Tuesday said they hoped to approve their version of the bill by the “third or fourth week of September,” in line with their target to approve next year’s national budget before Congress goes on break in October.
According to the legislative calendar, Congress will be in recess from Sept. 28 to Nov. 3.
Majority Floor Leader Jose Manuel Dalipe and Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales said in a media conference that they would also begin the budget briefings by Monday with the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
But Deputy Minority Leader France Castro criticized the proposed 2025 budget as “anti-poor and militaristic,” pointing to the lopsided funding for defense and infrastructure compared with social services and education.
The ACT Teachers party-list representative particularly slammed the allocation of P1.507-trillion for the Build Better More (BBM) program which, she claimed, “benefits big businesses and foreign investors while neglecting the basic needs of ordinary Filipinos.”
“The P977.6 billion for education barely scratches the surface of the sector’s needs, especially considering the learning crisis exacerbated by the pandemic,” she pointed out.
The allocation for NTF-Elcac also diverts crucial funds from social services and genuine economic development, she said. WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE INQ
