The administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s efforts to increase its budget on agriculture, infrastructure and healthcare, among others, will benefit the people.
In its report to Malacañang, the Department of Budget and Management cited the President's significant allocation of the country's annual gross domestic product—from five percent to six—to these areas under the "Build Better More" program.
For the agriculture sector, DBM said the increase was felt in the Department of Agriculture's (DA's) major agricultural and fishery programs.
Under infrastructure, the Budget department released over P44 million to fund the development of various hospitals, including the Marawi City General Hospital.
Meanwhile, DBM also extended support to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' (DENR) National Greening Program and to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Renewable Energy Development Program to mitigate effects of climate change.
Also listed in the DBM's accomplishment report this year is its aggressive digitalization in line with Marcos' agenda.
Under its digitalization thrust, DBM expanded its Action Document Releasing System (ADRS) and carried out the Unified Reporting System (URS) Encoding to its regional offices. It also digitalized the Public Financial Management Program and the Learning Management System (LMS).
DBM inked a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Government Servicing Banks (GSB) on the online release of the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) in the ADRS as well as worked with local government units (LGUs) for enhanced Public Financial Management Assessment Tool (ePFMAT).
Next year, DBM's priority legislative agenda will include the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance Bill (PBBM), Budget and Treasury Management System (BTMS), National Government Rightsizing Program (NGRP), and Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).