President Duterte has signed into law the P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022, which ensures funding for the country's coronavirus pandemic response and recovery efforts from the onslaught of typhoon Odette.
Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11639 or the General Appropriations Act of 2022 (GAA) in a ceremony with lawmakers and Cabinet members in Malacañang on Thursday, Dec. 30.
The P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022 is significantly higher by 11.5 percent over this year’s budget.
It is expected to ensure funding for expenditures related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response and recovery operations after the onslaught of typhoon Odette in several provinces.
As the President signed the new national budget, he expressed his worries over the emergence of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, saying that the government will have to deal "the same problem" again if the country is beset anew by an upsurge in community transmission of the new variant.
"I said though, it is not I say a lethal mutant or microbe, well, I am just giving you the --- what is bothering me. It might translate into a --- again, for government to pour again the resources of the new resurgence of itong (this) COVID-19 with another form," the president expressed.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) already announced that P6 billion out of the P10 billion pledged by the President to be utilized in the recovery of typhoon-torn areas in Visayas and Mindanao would be sourced from the 2022 national budget.
Among the agencies with the highest budget allocation are the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Health (DOH), Department of National Defense (DND), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Agriculture (DA), The Judiciary, and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The national budget plan is guided by a strategy of building resilience amidst the pandemic; sustaining the momentum towards recovery; and continuing the legacy of infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, Duterte also signed into law the Department of Migrant Workers Act, which supports the creation and establishment of the proposed new executive department.
This is expected to benefit around 2.2 million Filipinos abroad based on the 2019 Survey on Overseas Filipinos released in 2020 by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
During the ceremony, the President also signed Republic Act No. 11640 entitled, “An Act Extending the Availability of the 2021 Appropriations to December 31, 2022 that authorizes the government to continue drawing upon unused appropriations for funding essential projects and services.