MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Tuesday approved on third and final reading the proposed P1.816-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2012 which Senate Finance chief Sen. Franklin Drilon branded as a “results-focused” budget that reflects the five priorities of the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Voting 18-1, the Senate passed the national expenditure program of the Aquino government for next year after marathon hearings that lasted for four days last week. Only Sen. Joker Arroyo dissented.

Senators Edgardo Angara , Ralph Recto, vice chairs of the Senate Finance panel, and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano were designated to represent the chamber at the bicameral conference committee meeting which will start today, Nov. 23, at the Philippine Coconut Authority building where both the Senate and the House of Representatives will thresh out differing provisions of the bill.

Next year’s budget, Drilon said, is decidedly “biased for the poor” as it passed the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which includes the P39-billion allocation for the Aquino administration’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for next year.

A special amendment on the CC T effectively transfers P800 million in administrative costs as cash grants to benefit 61,538 additional poor beneficiaries. DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, during the budget deliberations, vowed to expand beneficiaries of the CCT from this year’s 2.3 million to more than three million households next year.

Agencies that got the biggest share of the budget include the Department of Education with an allocation of P202.354 billion, the Department of Public Works and Highways, P109.633 billion; Department of National Defense, P106.880 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P92.794 billion; and the Department of Agriculture with P53.243 billion.

An allotment of P2.595 billion is given to the Office of the President while a P8.961 billion is allotted for Congress.

The judiciary gets a budget of P15.075 billion, with Drilon assuring that the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) of the judiciary and the respective budgets of their offices as well as other constitutional agencies for unfilled positions are restored.

“In compliance with the constitutional mandate, we have maintained at least the 2011 budget of the constitutional offices. Not a single peso was reduced. We have also deleted any restrictions on the use of these funds. What we have is a reporting requirement on a quarterly basis,” Drilon said.

However, Arroyo debunked Drilon’s claims and scored the reportorial conditions included in the judiciary’s budget provisions.

While the Judiciary and constitutional agencies have to report on how it would spent its funds for unfilled positions, Arroyo said the President “has almost P95 billion in MPBF which he doesn’t need to report to anyone. That is unfair.”

“As far as I am concerned, it is not a reform budget. It is not a results-focused budget,” Arroyo said in an interview.

Arroyo also complained of a surplus budget from 2011 of around P200 billion parked in the Office of the President which he noted is “a lot higher than in the past years” and commented on the Aquino government’s underspending.

“There is unspent money in Malacañang and they did not spend it,” Arroyo said.

The Senate also restored the P811-million budget for irrigation projects, which the House of Representatives had earlier removed, and also realigned P750 million from the DILG to the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) for potable water projects.

The 2012 budget also supports President Aquino’s goal of addressing climate change issues with the allotment of P36.2 billion or 18.2 percent more than the 2011 allocation.

Ratification of the bill is expected to be ready by December 5-6, while President Aquino is expected to sign the budget bill into law by Dec. 15.