By Katrina Gracia Consebido
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday, Dec. 16, signed into law the P5.3 trillion 2023 national budget to also help the country recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA) is five percent higher than the P5.021 trillion 2022 national budget and is currently the biggest budget approved in the history of the country.
The education, public works, health, social welfare, agriculture, and transportation sectors are among the priority sectors under the Marcos administration’s first national budget.
In his speech during the ceremonial signing of the GAA , the President stressed the significance of the passage as it will serve as a “roadmap” for the administration’s goal in 2023.
“And to see the rapidity of the passage is significant because it means that this budget, the roadmap that we have proposed from the Executive, is fully supported by our legislature. And that is very, very important indeed,” Marcos said.
“Because it is what is essentially or sometimes regarded as a long, difficult, long-drawn-out process… Shown to still be able to express that kind of support, that kind of solidarity with the Executive,” he added.
Marcos said the signing of the GAA signed into law will serve as a tool to shape the economy.
“It is always very important that the GAA has been put together in consequence with all of the plans of the Executive. And that kind of coordination and that kind of synergy that we will gain from that is going to be an essential part of the way that we move forward,” he added.
The Chief Executive expressed gratitude to members of the Congress and people behind the passage of the 2023 national budget.
“All of these elements that are important for us to position ourselves in the new — I nearly said new society — in the new economy after the pandemic,” Marcos said. -ag
