A good day
 13 March 2008

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Last Tuesday, March 11, 2008, was "a good day for the Philippines."

Full of hope and optimism, that was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s opening line in her speech at the Ceremonial signing of the 2008 General Appropriations Act at the Palace.

"This budget," she said, "proves once again that members of Congress from both the House and the Senate and all parties can come together to work with the executive branch to get things done for the nation."

Indeed, it is a program of work that will fight for the economy, education and the environment, in the wake of global forces driving up the prices of basic commodities.

The top ten recipients of the new budget are: Department of Education (P140.24B), Department of Public Works and Highways (P94.73B), Department of Interior and Local Government (P53.24B), Department of National Defense (P50.93B), Department of Agriculture with AFMA (P24.71B), Department of Transportation and Communications (P20.82B), Department of Health (P19.77B), State Universities and Colleges (P19.64B), Judiciary (P10.28B), Department of Foreign Affairs (P10.19B).

The 2008 budget reflects the government’s investments in the three E’s: The Economy, Education, and the Environment.

Some highlights of the budget: An average 50 percent increase in the budgets of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation and Communications, and Department of Education, to intensify spending in the super-regions; the P176.47-billion budget for education, the biggest in recent years; P24.7 billion for health; P4.97 billion for housing; P3.28 billion in the food for school program; P13.1 billion for agrarian reform, to benefit more of the masses; doubled the budget of the Ombudsman.

After making some "tough political choices," the President said, government is left with more revenue to invest in people through the three E’s.

At the same time, the President warned of "clouds on the economic horizon that we must guard against." She cited global forces driving up the price of oil and environmental forces driving up the price of rice, both commodities vital to our sustained growth.

The budget, she said, "provides a buffer to mitigate the pain of a deteriorating global economy."

Full of hope but keenly aware of the challenges, and as the end of her term in 2010 draws nearer, the President closed on her mantra: "While we have accomplished much, much remains to be done."

Tuesday was truly a good day. In the morning, we took the path to further growing the economy.

Much later in the evening, another chapter in another path was coming to a close, but that is a story we would rather leave for some other telling.

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