THE House of Representatives will begin on August 17 deliberations on the proposed 2027 national budget that was submitted by Malacañang on Tuesday.
Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing, House Committee on Appropriations chairman, said the Development Budget Coordination Committee, or DBCC, will be the first to face lawmakers.
Committee-level hearings will run until September 8, after which the proposed budget will be submitted to the plenary for deliberations.
Suansing said the House aims to approve the 2027 General Appropriations Bill, or GAB, on third and final reading by October 9.
As with the deliberations on the 2026 General Appropriations Act, Suansing said the budget process will be transparent. All hearings of the Committee on Appropriations and the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee, or BARC, will be livestreamed.
Bicameral conference committee meetings are also expected to be open to the public.
Education gets biggest share
EDUCATION will receive the largest allocation under the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, as the government directs more than half of its expenditure program to 10 priority agencies and sectors.
The proposed budget is 6 percent higher than the P6.793-trillion allocation for 2026 and is equivalent to 21.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said the spending plan supports the administration’s commitments.
‘Most, if not all, of the pronouncements are properly funded in the budget,’ de Leon said.
The 10 biggest budget recipients will receive a combined P3.703 trillion, or about 51.4 percent of the total expenditure program.
The Department of Education will obtain the highest allocation at P976 billion, representing 13.55 percent of the proposed national budget while the Commission on Higher Education and state universities and colleges will receive a combined P176.5 billion, placing higher education ninth among the largest recipients.
The Department of Public Works and Highways ranked second with P644 billion, equivalent to 8.94 percent of the expenditure program.
Health ranked third with P353.8 billion. The amount covers the Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and specialty hospitals. Among the health spending priorities are P133.3 billion for health facility operations, P25.4 billion for the National Health Workforce Support System and P24.2 billion for medical assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients.
The Zero-Balance Billing Program for national and local government hospitals will receive P19 billion.
‘The Zero-Balance Billing Program not only extends to national government hospitals but also to local government hospitals nationwide,’ de Leon said.
He added that maintenance and other operating expenses for hospitals increased by 6.21 percent to P66.59 billion.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government ranked fourth with P332.5 billion, followed by the Department of National Defense with P328.8 billion.
The transportation sector, covering the Department of Transportation, Philippine National Railways, and Light Rail Transit Authority, ranked sixth with P302.2 billion.
Agriculture agencies will receive a combined P261.7 billion, placing the sector seventh. The allocation covers the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the National Irrigation Administration, and several government corporations involved in agriculture.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development ranked eighth with P241.6 billion. Its major allocations include P99.1 billion for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, P51.6 billion for the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens and P33.3 billion for protective services for individuals and families in difficult circumstances.
Higher education ranked ninth with P176.5 billion, while the judiciary completed the top 10 with an allocation of P86.3 billion.