The House of Representatives approved Friday on second and third readings, House Bill No. 4228, or the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), which provides for the P4.1-trillion national budget for fiscal year 2020.

This came after President Rodrigo Duterte certified HB 4228 as urgent,

Those voting yes were 257, no 6 and 0 abstentions.

The House usually approves the budget bill in October.

The 2020 budget’s approval is record-setting as it was done in only 20 working days within a period of 30 days and marks the earliest passage of the budget during the Duterte administration.

As stated in the 2020 GAB, the top 10 departments with the biggest allocations are: Department of Education, P673 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways, P534.3 billion; Department of the Interior and Local Government, P238 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P195 billion; Department of National Defense, P189 billion; Department of Health, P166.5 billion; Department of Transportation, P147 billion; Department of Agriculture, P93.1 billion; The Judiciary, P38.7 billion; and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P26.4 billion.

Among the critical programs of the Duterte administration are measures to implement new laws and policies that provide socio-economic assistance to all Filipinos and enhance security of the nation, such as: full implementation of the Universal Health Care Act; institutionalization of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program; smooth transition to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; implementation of the liberalization of rice importation; creation of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development; and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. DMS