Before aiming for a balanced budget
ANGARA PUSHES FOR MORE EDUCATION,
HEALTH AND INFRA SPENDING

In the advent of the budget deliberations, Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said the resources for education, health and infrastructure should not be cut short in order to achieve a balanced budget.

"America - our principal trading partner - undergoes recession mainly because of credit crunch. On the other hand, what our country really needs is to maintain the momentum especially now that we are in a better fiscal position," said Senator Angara, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions.

"A balanced budget means that we have to cut-short spending. In the Philippines, our spending curve lies heavily on education, health and infrastructure. Our economy will continue to improve if we strongly support these essential areas, "he added.

Under the Senate version of the FY 2008 National Budget, the Department of Education has been allocated P2 billion for the repair of school buildings, P760 million to cover the next year's backlog for classrooms, P420 million for school seats and P330 million for hiring new teachers.

The Commission on Higher Education shall have an allocation of P854 million for its Higher Education Development Fund, P485.1 million will be utilized for scholarship programs and the remaining P368.9 million shall be used for the research and graduate scholarship, quality assurance and upgrading and management and information systems development.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health shall have an augmented allocation solely devoted for Infectious Disease Prevention Control.