The Senate on Wednesday night ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, which is expected to help the government’s efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the country’s economy.
Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said the bicam report also focused on the government’s efforts to help the provinces and communities that were devastated by the recent typhoons.
Based on the data provided by the Senate finance panel, the education sector comprised by the Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is the highest recipient with an approved proposed budget of P708.181-billion.
This is followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)—the second highest—which is given a budget of P694.822-billion for next year.
The health sector, led by the Department of Health (DOH), which is tasked mainly to address the COVID-19 pandemic and procure the vaccines, is ranked third in the top 10 recipients, with P287.471-billion proposed budget. Apart from DOH, the allocation also includes the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), budget for specialty hospitals, hiring of additional health workers and the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
Other departments and their respective allocations are: the Department of Interior and Local Government which will receive P247.506-billion; Department of National Defense, P205.471-billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P176.659-billion; Department of Tourism, P87.445-billion; Department of Agriculture, P68.622-billion; Judiciary, P44.108-billion and Department of Labor and Employment, P36. 606-billion.
Angara said at least P72-billion is allotted for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, while House Appropriations Committee chair Eric Yap said some P23-billion was set aside for rehabilitation efforts following Typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.
Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, however questioned the disproportionate funds of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the DPWH’s 2021 budget.
“One department with a track record of underspending and questionable, wasteful projects may be getting an added P28.348 billion, while another department implementing a much-needed national broadband program is getting a ‘useless’ increase of less than P1-billion in the 2021 budget,” Lacson lamented.
“As it is, at P666.474-billion as proposed under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), and we actually base this on the historical data I mentioned, we can immediately see that P82-billion cannot be used,” he pointed out.
“And here we are further increasing the budget of DPWH by P28 billion... We should learn our lessons from that data," Lacson said in his interpellation on the bicam report.
Earlier, Lacson recommended a reduction of P60-billion from the DPWH's proposed budget for 2021, including for multi-purpose buildings (MPBs) except those to be used as evacuation and quarantine facilities, as well as double appropriations, right-of-way payments, and also overlapping projects.
The senator also raised the issue of some P26-billion in Right-of-Way (ROW) appropriations for the DPWH - including P11.4-billion in the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and some P5.7-billion embedded ROW appropriations in projects, as well as P22.14-billion in ROW appropriations and P4.05-billion in embedded ROW in the proposed 2021 budget.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, on the other hand, lauded the Senate finance panel for pursuing a budget that is focused on addressing the COVID-19 crisis, boosting economic recovery and continuing the priority programs and projects of the Duterte administration.
Sen. Grace Poe, meanwhile, lauded the Senate for passing the 2021 budget in a timely manner.
“The 2021 budget we passed is timely, targeted and laser-focused on our people who are most affected by the pandemic…it seeks to respond to real needs for better health protection, equal access to quality education, efficient transportation and infrastructure and inclusive social protection,” Poe said.
Under the budget, Poe said funds would be poured in to set up the National Broadband infrastructure to ensure better, accessible and affordable Internet services—a value necessity to workers, students and businesses under this new normal.
Following its ratification, the proposed 2021 national budget would then be submitted to President Duterte for his signature. Lawmakers project the signing of the budget bill would be done by Dec. 18 or Dec. 21.