Philippine president approves 2013 budget

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Wednesday the 2.006 trillion pesos (48.88 billion US dollars) budget for next year. Aquino said despite the challenges that the country has been facing, the Congress was able to pass the budget early for the third time since he assumed office in 2010. He hailed both the Senate and the House of Representatives for approving the budget. "That's why for the first time in more than seven years, there' s no provision in the budget (law) that I had to scrap through direct veto," the president said. The lion's share of the budget will go to social services sector, with the Department of Education getting 232.6 billion pesos. A total of 56.3 billion pesos was allocated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development while the Department of Health got 51.1 billion pesos. Economic development will also be supported by next year's budget for capital outlay, which rose by 17.3 percent on year to 325.5 billion pesos.