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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Group questions allocation of proposed 2022 national budget

Group questions allocation of proposed 2022 national budget

Published Aug 17, 2021 03:03 pm

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) questioned the allocation of the proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for 2022 amid the ongoing health crisis.

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. pointed out that the P242 Billion proposed budget for the DOH only ranked fourth among agencies with largest budget allocation despite the ongoing pandemic.

In a Palace briefing, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the agencies that will receive the largest budget are the education sector (P773.6 Billion), the Department of Public Works and Highways (P686.1 Billion), the Department of Interior and Local Government (P250.4 Billion), and the DOH (P242 Billion).

“The DPWH budget is nearly the DOH budget, during a pandemic. It does not make sense. The DOH budget is only the 4th largest spending, during a severe health crisis,” Reyes wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday, Aug. 17.

“Why prioritize the DPWH over the DOH? We can only suspect that big projects will again be used as milking cows to augment the election war chest of the incumbent,” he added.

Other government agencies with highest proposed budget allocation are Department of National Defense (P222 Billion), Department of Social Welfare and Development (P191.4 Billion), Department of Transportation (P151.3 Billion), Department of Agriculture and National Irrigation Authority (P103.5 Billion), and the Department of Labor and Employment (P44.9 Billion).

“The proposed education sector budget of P773.6 billion is an increase of only 2.9 percent compared to the 2021 budget that was P751.7 billion,” Reyes said. “Meanwhile, the 2022 budget for the DND at P222 billion is a 7.8 percent increase compared to the 2021 budget of P205.8 billion.”

The Duterte government will seek the swift passage of a proposed P5.024 trillion national budget for next year to sustain its pandemic response, social services, infrastructure development, among others.

According to Roque, the bulk of the proposed 2022 budget will go to social services sector with almost P2 trillion allocation.

“The national budget does not appear to be a budget to address the pandemic,” Reyes said. “It appears to be an election war chest budget.”

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