Malacañang has submitted to Congress a proposed national budget of P5.04 trillion for the fiscal year (FY) 2022, the biggest budget that the executive branch has ever asked for.

In his press briefing on Monday, August 23, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque bared that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) submitted the proposed FY 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP) to the House of Representatives that morning.

"Ito po ngayon ang pinakamataas na budget na isinumite ng Ehekutibo sa Kongreso (This is the biggest budget that the Executive has proposed to Congress)," he said.

As per the DBM, the 2022 NEP was carefully crafted to provide the necessary funding requirements to support the country's resilience against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, to sustain the trajectory of economic growth, and to continue the legacy of infrastructure development.

Some key items in the proposed 2022 budget are the following:

• P45.4 billion for COVID-19 booster shots of 93.798 million fully vaccinated Filipinos
• P983 million for the establishment of Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines
• P140 million for biosurveillance and immune-biosurveillance of COVID-19 variants under the Genomic Information and Resource Hub

In his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month, President Duterte asked Congress to swiftly pass the bills creating the Virology Institute of the Philippines and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, citing the lingering threat of COVID-19 in the country.

"We hope to pursue the creation of public entities dedicated to managing emerging and re-emerging diseases. I thus fervently request Congress to enact a law creating the Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines," he said.

The President expressed confidence in the Filipinos’ capability to develop the country’s own vaccine supply.

"I am sure the Filipino brain can also process or make vaccines in the future," he said.

Coronavirus response

Last week, Roque announced that the country would need P240,747,386,000 to fund the government's coronavirus response efforts in 2022.

Of the said figure, P99,196,628,000 would go to the Department of Education (DepEd), while P93.75 billion would be for the Department of Health (DOH).

A total of P33,629,475,000 would be allocated to the programs of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Of the said figure, P22.33 was set for the agency's Livelihood and Emergency Employment programs while the remaining P11.29 billion was for the welfare services of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The government was eyeing P11,517,459,000 for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) would be getting P1,278,170,000; the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with P1,203,000,000; and the University of the Philippines (UP) System with P140,000,000.