Key Features and Principles
- Focuses Spending on the Social Contract
- Enhances Daylight in Governing the Nation’s Coffers
- Shuns the “Business-As-Usual” Mindset in Combating Poverty
- Consolidates our Strengths for Economic Growth
- Ensures an Enhanced Context for Development
Focuses Spending on the Social Contract
The National Budget for 2012 is a Results-Focused Budget. It is aligned with fulfilling the administration’s Social Contract with the Filipino people. All funding of programs and activities of the government will be aligned with the 5 Key Result Areas (KRAs) of the Aquino Social Contract with the Filipino People, as stated under Executive Order No. 43.
Enhances Daylight in Governing the Nation’s Coffers
The government continues to pursue and escalate reforms to establish transparency, accountability and citizen participation in public spending.
Citizen participation in the budget is broadened by actively engaging the civil society organizations throughout the budget process. The government will employ the zero-based budgeting (ZBB) approach to avoid redundancies in resource allocations and to weed out inefficient programs. For the 2012 budget preparation, the often-abused lump sum funds are disaggregated into regional and sub-regional allocations. The use of savings is tightened to prevent irregularities and anomalous practices.
Moreover, ICT will be utilized to ensure transparency, accountability and citizen participation in public spending. It will be used as a tool to harmonize and integrate government’s disparate financial management processes. It will also be used to improve the management of information that impact on public spending, such as in capturing government’s complete manpower with the upgrading of the Government Manpower Information System (GMIS).
Shuns the “Business-As-Usual” Mindset in Combating Poverty
The government will continue to prioritize programs and interventions that will directly reduce poverty. Decidedly biased toward the poor and marginalized, the social services sector will continue to implement its flagship programs, including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). To ensure the success of these programs, investments in healthcare, education and housing will be shored up, and the National Household Targeting System (NHTS) will be expanded to better identify the beneficiaries.
Consolidates our Strengths for Economic Growth
The 2012 Budget supports rapid, inclusive and sustained economic growth through higher spending on economic services to boost economic activity and job generation, particularly in these priority areas: agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, business process outsourcing, and semiconductor and electronics. Public-private partnerships will continue to be tapped to increase private sector engagements in developing critical infrastructure facilities. Moreover, the Aquino Administration continues to pursue macroeconomic stability through fiscal consolidation.
Ensures an Enhanced Context for Development
For 2012, the government intends to provide the necessary support for strengthening the rule of law, securing peace and order in conflict-afflicted areas, and pursuing climate change adaptation and mitigation.