Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has vowed to transmit to the Senate the proposed P5.024-trillion General Appropriations Act on October 27 to ensure the timely enactment of the measure.
“We are very proud of this budget and what it will do to help our country recover from the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the House delivered a budget that directly responds to the greatest needs of the Filipino people amid this unprecedented global health crisis,” Velasco said in a press statement.
Velasco said the lower chamber’s version of the budget measure includes institutional amendments designed to help boost the government’s COVID-19 response, as well as upgrade the assets of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and fund state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
He assured that the said amendments were “vetted and approved” by the five-member committee formed by the House to consolidate individual amendments on the proposed 2022 national budget as contained in House Bill 10153.
The panel was composed of ACT CIS Partylist Rep. Eric Go Yap, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (1st District, Leyte); Reps. Joey Sarte Salceda (2nd District, Albay); Stella Luz Quimbo (2nd District, Marikina City) and Edcel Lagman (1st District, Albay).
Velasco said additional P5.5 billion has been granted the Department of National Defense for the acquisition of five brand new C-130J planes for the Philippine Air Force.
“This will allow the Air Force to effectively fulfill its mandate of protecting the nation’s airspace, and to continue responding to disasters and transporting medical equipment and supplies during this pandemic,” Velasco said.
The amendments also call for additional P29.5 billion for the Department of Health. A total P20 billion will go to the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots; P5 billion for the Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients program that includes hospitalization and assistance to indigent patients and P4.5 billion Special Risk Allowance to qualified public and private health workers.
The appropriations panel provided the Department of Labor additional P10 billion for its “Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged or Displaced Workers Program (TUPAD).
Additional funding for DOLE has been sought by Probinsyano Ako Partylist Rep. Jose “Bonito” Singson Jr. who cited former Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III for the successful implementation of programs aimed at cushioning the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the country’s labor force.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development budget will be increased by P11 billion under the House amendments.
The additional DSWD allocation will go the the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, P10 billion and Sustainable Livelihood Program P1 billion.
Meanwhile, P6 billion will go to the Department of Transportation for the continued implementation of its Service Contracting Program which involvesthe grant of assistance to public transport drivers and operators.
Four state universities and colleges situated in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will now receive funds through the P504 million budget granted by the Lower Chamber.
Also receiving additional funding are the Department of Information and Communications, P3 billion and Department of National Defense, P5.5 billion.
Velasco thanked the committee for “painstakingly putting together the amendments introduced by individual members in order to create the highest quality budget.”