Solon snagged huge budget allocation for Davao City’s 1st District in 2020-2023
In the national budget, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte has directed an additional allocation of P30 billion for the first district of Davao City for the years 2020-2023.
According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), this move significantly increased the Malacañang’s proposed National Expenditure Program by almost 500 percent during the specified period.
The document reveals that in his initial year in office, Rep. Duterte elevated the Malacañang-proposed 2020 National Expenditure Program (NEP) from P4.67 billion to a substantial P13.745 billion, introducing a total of P9.07 billion, representing a more than 300 percent increase.
In the subsequent year, President Rodrigo Duterte advocated for a P9.67 billion allocation for his son’s district, resulting in an unprecedented P5 billion increase from the preceding year.
Comparatively, starting at P4.67 billion in 2020, President Duterte allocated P10 billion for his son’s district in 2022. This amount was subsequently augmented by Rep. Duterte, who raised his father’s proposed budget for Davao City’s first district from P9.67 billion to P25.034 billion, introducing a total of P15.36 billion, representing nearly a 400 percent increase.
During his father’s final year as President, the Palace proposed a P10 billion budget for Davao City’s first district, one of the most substantial allocations for a city. However, the younger Duterte inserted a total of P3.047 billion.
Over the span of three years, Duterte’s first district received a total allocation of P51 billion. In contrast, Davao City’s first district received only P11.2 billion from 2016-2019 during the term of former House Appropriations Committee Chair and now Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Karlo Alexei Nograles.
In response to the House leadership’s reduction of P2 billion from his district’s budget, Duterte issued a statement expressing dissatisfaction, stating that only P500 million was left for his district. However, the DPWH document indicates that in 2023, under President Marcos’s term, his district was allocated P5.22 billion, with a further allocation of P1.02 billion for 2024.
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