The House leadership's list of institutional amendments worth P77.5 billion to the proposed 2023 national budget is good, but not enough.
Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro had this to say Friday, Oct. 7, or just a few days after House Speaker Martin Romualdez revealed the amendments to the proposed P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2023.
"The institutional amendments amounting to P77.5 billion as announced by Speaker Martin Romualdez as being included by the House of Representatives in the approved version of the 2023 to augment the budget for health, education, transportation and other critical social services is a small positive step in having a national budget more attuned for the needs of the Filipino people," Castro said in a statement.
"But it is still wanting because, yes it granted PGH (Philippine General Hospital) P500 million additional funds but it needs P4.587 billion for 2023. It is also not clear if this is just capital outlay or the P37 million budget cut in the MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) was restored," she said.
The Makabayan lawmaker also noted that the Department of Health (DOH) needs P76.5 billion in 2023 to cover for Covid benefits of health workers. The augmentation of P5 billion as per the institutional amendments is a far cry from this, she said.
Castro noted that the budget for social pension but year is still short by P5 billion, despite the augmentation of P5 billion.
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"Kung sa DepEd (Department of Education) school facilities ang panawagan natin ay dagdagan ng P20 billion, ang binigay ay P10 billion lang (Our appeal for additional funds for DepEd school facilities is P20 billion, but only P10 billion was given.
"Though these amendments are still not final and can still be changed in the bicameral meeting, we hope tthat these allotments can still be increased by realigning the P9.26 billion of intelligence and confidential funds as well as the remaining funds for the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) as well as other unnecessary funds to basic services," concluded Castro.