Senators on Monday, May 10, quizzed Cabinet officials on the Duterte administration's push to create a Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL), now supposedly made more urgent by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the continuation of the Senate labor committee's deliberation on the proposed creation of the DOFIL, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon took note of Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles' insistence that the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and migrant Filipinos worldwide, "emphasizes the need for one department to take care" of their concerns.
"If there is anything, what we need today would be resources, funds to purchase principally vaccines. And precisely, this new department will have funds which can be better used as funds to respond to the pandemic," Drilon said.
He cited for instance that the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) only set aside an unprogrammed appropriation of P70 billion for vaccine purchase, whose release is subject to the availability of government funds.
Only P2.5 billion of the P4.506-trillion national budget was allotted as regular fund for vaccine procurement; while P10 billion was appropriated under the "Bayanihan to Recover as One" Act, or Bayanihan 2, which will expire next month.
"I assume the contingent fund can also be utilized to purchase the vaccines, but here we are saying that that is not so important as providing funds for new bureacracy which, from the discussion now, will only cause confusion," the Senate minority leader told Nograles.
Agreeing with Drilon, Senator Imee Marcos also recalled the hesitation of the government to use its P13-billion contingency fund to repatriate displaced Filipinos abroad.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the creation of the DOFIL alone would require at least P1.109 billion, excluding the budget to implement programs and perform its mandates. Nograles earlier said the DOFIL will not result in more expenses for the government, since it would only integrate existing agencies into a single department.
"I would just like to manifest my puzzlement and abject horror that in fact the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) no longer has much in its trust fund but we want to put a new department but we refuse to fund repatriation and reintegration," said Marcos, who has been opposed to the creation of the DOFIL.
In response to the senators, Nograles said the government has already allocated funds for vaccine procurement and its repatriation program.
He, however, said the creation of the new department for migrant Filipinos is as important as the COVID-19 response.
"We believe the budget set aside for this new department would also be very important in terms of addressing all the multi-faceted, multi-dimensional concerns and issues especially now wth COVID happening all over the world," he said.
Drilon, obviously not convinced with the Cabinet official's statements, said: "Excuse me for saying so...but mukhang pilit 'yong iyong sinasabi, eh (it seemed you were only forcing that answer). Mukhang kayo hindi naniniwala sa sinasabi niyo (It seemed like you also don't believe what you are saying)."
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said in the hearing that the DBM has recommended to President the allocation of P5.2 billion for the continued repatriation of OFWs. The OWWA earlier requested over P9 billion to cover the repatriation of 500,000 more Filipinos.
Nograles assured the senators that the executive department will "no longer be touching the OWWA fund".
Last March, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the government has already secured a total of US$1.2 billion, or about P58.4 billion in loans to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for 70 million Filipinos.
Meanwhile, the balance of P11.6 billion from the P70-billion vaccine fund will be sourced from "savings and other arrangements with the Philippines' bilateral or multilateral partners", the DOF said.
The proposed DOFIL, certified as an urgent measure by President Duterte, will combine all existing government agencies concerned with migrant Filipino affairs.
The OWWA and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, while retaining their current structure, will be transferred from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to the new agency as its attached agencies.