AGRICULTURE BUDGET. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez (extreme left) explains the possible sources of funding for the Agriculture budget in 2020 during the Sulong Pilipinas Agribusiness Forum in Davao City on Tuesday (December 17, 2019). Dominguez assures that the Department of Agriculture's PHP150-billion allocation will be granted either through tax increase or loans. (PNA photo by Che Palicte)
DAVAO CITY – The chief of the Department of Finance (DOF) has expressed optimism that the budget requested by the Department of Agriculture (DA) of about PHP150 billion will be approved as the agriculture sector remains a top priority of the Duterte administration.
In a press briefing during the Sulong Pilipinas Agribusiness Summit here on Tuesday, Secretary Carlos Dominguez said they are findings ways to find potential sources to meet DA's proposed budget, one of which is to raise taxes of alcohol and electronic cigarettes.
“To raise that money, we can do it in two ways, borrow or apply for a loan and raise the taxes for us to fund this amount,” Dominguez said.
He said DOF will be pushing for the passage of a bill raising the tax on alcohol and electronic cigarettes even as President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a ban on the importation and use of the products in public places.
In November, Duterte ordered a ban on electronic cigarettes following the first case of vape-related illness.
Dominguez said the DOF had already submitted to Congress its proposal to increase the excise tax on e-cigarettes even before the President’s directive.
“If passed, we can have enough funds to invest in the agriculture and the health sector as well. The demands for development funds are very large,” he said, as he cautioned that over-reliance on loans to fund government budgets was risky.
“But if we raise taxes to fund at least 20 to 25 percent and borrow the rest, we will be doing it in a very conservative and sustainable way,” the DOF chief said.
Still, he said they are still working on "looking at other sources" of funding as the 2020 budget has not yet been finalized.
Meanwhile, DA Undersecretary for Operations Ariel Cayanan said that no matter "how big or small" the agency's budget is, "the more important thing is how we are going to utilize it."
“That’s why we have crafted roadmaps and monitoring and evaluation is being conducted. The other side will be borne out on plans like provincial commodity investment, value chain analysis and we even extend using science and technology so that not a single penny will be missed in our programs,” Cayanan said.
The Sulong Pilipinas initiative is a consultative forum between the government and the private sector that started in June 2016 even before then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte took over as President.
The Sulong Pilipinas Agribusiness Forum encouraged the establishment of more agribusiness enterprises and make the farm sector more attractive and viable for the next generation of agriculture entrepreneurs.” (PNA)
