BY RAYMOND AFRICA and WENDELL VIGILIA
THE Senate yesterday ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the P5.024 trillion proposed national budget for 2022, hours after congressmen and senators reconciled the differing versions of the proposed law.
President Duterte is expected to sign the measure into law before the year ends.
The budget was approved in the bicameral level after the House adopted the Senate’s move to bring down the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) proposed 2022 budget to P17.1 billion from Malacanang’s original proposal of P28 billion.
The NTF-ELCAC has a budget of P19 billion this year, with over P16 billion allocated for its Barangay Development Program that militant lawmakers have questioned.
The Senate had slashed P24 billion from the task force’s proposed P28 billion budget for 2022 but eventually agreed to return the task force’s budget for the Barangay Development Program for next year after it submitted an accomplishment report on how the program’s funds were disbursed.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Senate finance committee chairman, said a big chunk of the proposed budget will go to the government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response and economic recovery programs.
Angara said the Department of Health got at least P20 billion on top of the P242 billion proposed by Malacañang in its National Expenditure Program (NEP). He said bulk of the P20 billion additional DOH funds will go to the Special Risk Allowance and COVID-19 hazard pay of healthcare workers, and other benefits for HCWs that were not included in the NEP.
Angara said the bicameral panel also approved a budget of around P47 billion, under the programmed and unprogrammed funds, for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.
Angara said the bicameral group likewise agreed to increase the proposed P44.9 billion budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to allow it to offer free COVID-19 testing to individuals looking for jobs.
He said funds for financial assistance were also provided for displaced workers.
“We are also focused on our economic recovery and not only on health,” Angara said.
Angara said the additional funds given to the DOH, DOLE, and other agencies were taken from the budget of some departments like the Department of Transportation.
He assured the public that the budget cuts in some agencies will not affect the government’s infrastructure programs.
Angara said the education sector still got the biggest budget allocation of around P800 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the DOH.
Under the NEP, the DepEd has a proposed budget of P773.6 billion for next year.
