Consistent with the Administrations tradition of enacting the National Budget on time, President

Benigno S. Aquino III today signed the P2.265-trillion 2014 General Appropriations Act
(GAA), effectively setting next years expenditure program in motion and instituting a range of
public spending reforms that will bring greater efficiency, transparency, accountability, and
openness in the budget process.
The 2014 GAA13 percent or P258.7 billion higher than the current years budgetis also the
countrys first Performance-Informed Budget, a landmark reform initiative that ties an agencys
overall budget to specific standards of performance and service delivery.
As pioneered by the Aquino administration, the 2014 Performance-Informed Budget draws very
clear connections between an agencys budget and its expected output. With these details so
explicitly laid out in next years GAA, the public can begin to demand greater accountability and
efficiency from our agencies. Its a reform path that can only lead to deeper citizen engagement
and improved public service, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Butch Abad said.
In crafting next years budget, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) worked with
all departments and agencies in specifying their respective targets, which are expressed as
Performance Information under each agencys budget in the 2014 GAA.
An agencys allocation for the entire fiscal year should actually support the accomplishment of
its targets, as outlined in its Performance Information in the 2014 GAA. For example, the Bureau
of Fire Protections budget for next year should allow it to respond to at least 5,185 fire calls in
the National Capital Region within 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, the Department of Education,
through the 2014 Performance-Informed Budget, has committed to enroll a total of 12.6 million
children in kindergarten and elementary schools nationwide, Abad explained.
The biggest share of the P2.265-trillion 2014 GAA continues to be devoted to Social Services,
which will receive P841.8 billion or 37.2 percent of the total national budget. This includes
budgetary support to the Administrations ongoing Conditional Cash Transfer program (P62.6
billion), the construction and repair of public school classrooms (P44.6 billion), and the National
Health Insurance Program (P35.3 billion).
Economic Services will also receive ample budgetary support, with P593.1 billion or 26.2
percent already set for it in the 2014 budget. Altogether, this includes a P94.3-billion allocation
for paving national roads, P10.7 billion for technical support services that will benefit the
countrys farmers, and P5.5 billion for tourism promotion.
Meanwhile, the governments Debt Burden and General Public Services corner 16.7 percent
(P377.6 billion) and 16 percent (P362.6 billion) of the budget, respectively. Defense services
under the Aquino administration get a 4.0-percent cut from the 2014 GAA, with a budget
amounting to P89.5 billion.
The Aquino administration has also ramped up its support for disaster preparedness and post-
disaster rehabilitation in the 2014 budget, with P13 billion set aside for the Calamity Fundnow
dubbed the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fundup by a whopping 73 percent
over this years P7.5 billion.
Another P20 billion has also been allocated to the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program,
while P80 billion has been channeled toward reconstruction projects under the Unprogrammed
Fund.
Abad noted that the 2014 GAA is the product of improved citizen engagement in the
development of the Administrations proposed budget, as well as the Aquino governments
ability to respond to the countrys changing needs, in view of President Aquinos broader socio-
economic development program.
Were not just looking at a GAA that was shaped by the greater expansion of our Bottom-Up
Budgeting program, where we worked with the countrys poorest communities to see how the
National Budget could better serve their needs. Were also looking at a GAA that introduces
some groundbreaking changes, not least of which is the abolition of the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF), the beginning of the GAA-as-Release-Document regime, and the
unprecedented support for disaster rehabilitation and preparation, especially in the wake of this
years calamities.
In a very real way, the 2014 budget is one that responds aptly to the times, one born of fruitful,
sincere dialogue between the public and the Aquino administration. For instance, the clamor to
abolish PDAF has persisted for decades, and only under this Administration was this call
successfully heeded. It is exactly this pattern of citizen engagement that we believe in and aspire
to, where Filipinos are further empowered to be our active partners in ensuring governance
reform and inclusive growth in the country, Abad said.