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Koko Receives Budget Proposal in Historic Move
For the first time in history, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) presented the National Expenditure Program or NEP to the Senate. Together with Senate Finance Committee Chair Loren Legarda, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III received the proposed 3.35T peso budget, dubbed “A Budget for Real Change,” from DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno in the Office of the Senate President earlier today, August 15, 2016.
Koko, in his opening remarks, told the assembled journalists, “This afternoon, we will be witnessing a unique event… This is the first time that the National Expenditure Program will be presented to the Senate.”
Towards the end of the program, Koko expressed his gratitude to DBM for a longer time to “scrutinize the budget.” He repeated his promise made before when he accepted the Senate Presidency “…to reform the budget and to declare war on waste.”
Senator Legarda and Secretary Diokno answered queries from journalists, highlighting the increases in the expenditure for infrastructure, bigger budget for education, and higher salaries for military, police, and other uniformed personnel.
