Duterte’s Budget

Perhaps looking at budget is a good way to get a sense of the Duterte administration’s priorities. The Philippines Star reported back in August that Duterte’s P31 billion (which I calculated is about 25%) from the Department of Health’s budget, while the police, military, and presidential office received increases – this last an increase of 10x the previous budget, from P2-P20 billion, P7 billion of which were for “representation and entertainment” according to the Philstar. Within DOH, maintenance and operating expenses budgets, as well as those for clinics and hosptals went down, but funding for salaries went up as part of a plan to hire more health professionals for rural areas. It is also worth noting that there has been a proposed 30% increase in the education budget, up P135 billion from the prior allotment. It was unclear to me from this article whether this was merely a proposal or actually in place, though it was discussed as if it was already approved.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/21/1615704/duterte-cuts-health...