Gabriela Women’s Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas is wondering why the budget for the construction of classrooms and housing is relatively low compared to the rest of the items under the P1.196-trillion infrastructure budget.

“Nasa P1.196-trillion or five percent GDP ang nakaraan para sa imprastraktura sa panukalang 2023 budget (P1.196-trillion or five percent of the GDP has been allocated for infrastructure in the 2023 National Expenditure Program ). This is 22.7 percent of the total,’” Brosas asked during the House Committee on Appropriations' budget deliberations on Friday, Aug. 26.

“Pinackage po ito ng (This was packaged as) ‘Build, Better, More’...pero, di namin makita yung more and better. Kasi, halimbawa po, magkano po ang nakalaan para sa mga classroom, mapupunuan ba natin ang 91,000 classroom shortage. Magkano po ang nakalaan sa pabahay or housing para sa infra (But, we don’t see the more and better part. For example, how much was allotted for classrooms? Can we address the 91,000 classroom shortage? How much was allotted for housing?),” Brosas continued in her questioning.

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/21/ph-schools-to-open-sy-2022-2023-with-face-to-face-classes/

In response, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, enumerated the major projects under capital outlays for fiscal year 2023:

“P1.2-trillion or five percent of which P429-billion will go to road networks, P177-million to flood control systems, P164-million for the development funds under the LGUs [local government units, P105-billion to railways, P74-billion will go to buildings which includes school building projects of the government, irrigation systems will receive P29.4-billion, right of way projects will receive P28.6-billion, hospitals and health centers will receive P23.2-billion, there’s a separate item for school buildings which is P13.9-billion, water supply systems P10.7-billion, power supply systems P3.6-billion, housing and community facilities P2.5-billion, and P1.4-billion for the reforestation projects,” Pangandaman.

Brosas asked the official why wasn't more money allocated to schools, housing, and social services, something that she argued would have been felt more by the ordinary Filipino.

She pointed out that bigger funds were set aside for right of way projects compared to the construction of schools, housing, and social services.

“In preparation of the budget, we consider our fiscal space as provided for by the DBCC (Development Budget Coordination Committee), and with that, we have a formula to allot funds for each department. For each department, we take into consideration the utilization and sorting capacity of the agencies,” Pangandaman said.

Unsatisfied, Brosas asked the DBM secretary to answer categorically--either 'yes' or 'no'.

“We don’t have enough funds to provide for the backlog of the classrooms,” Pangandaman admitted.