VOTING 22-0 with no abstention, the Senate yesterday afternoon passed on third and final reading its version of the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022 which seeks to sustain gains achieved by the government in its pandemic response against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The budget measure was hours after senators approved it on second reading. The proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) was certified as urgent by President Duterte on Sept. 29, 2021.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III named Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate finance committee, as head of the Senate contingent to the bicameral committee that will reconcile the money measure with the version of the House of Representatives.
Other members of the bicameral contingent are Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Cynthia Villar, Ronald dela Rosa, Richard Gordon, Christopher Go, Risa Hontiveros, Imee Marcos, Joel Villanueva, Grace Poe, and Nancy Binay.
Angara said the budget measure, or the 2022 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), provided significant increases on the proposed budgets of the health and education sectors which continue to face heavy challenges due to the adverse effects of the pandemic.
Under the Senate version, the Department of Health will get a P230.113 billion budget for next year, which is higher than the P182.672 billion approved by the House of Representatives.
Angara said the Senate made sure that benefits due to healthcare workers (HCWs) from both the private and public sectors will continue to be provided. The DOH, he added, will also get increased allocations to continue its emergency hiring of HCWs and professionals, and for the purchase of lab network commodities.
He said senators also upped the budget of the DOH — Epidemiology and Surveillance Program and the allocation for the operations of national reference laboratories to ensure that the government can keep up with the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
He added a budget was also earmarked for the hiring and training of 25,000 contact tracers next year, while funding for the purchase of medicines and vaccines that will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration were also provided in anticipation of new developments in the treatment of the virus.
Angara said the Senate also augmented the budget for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) of the DOH which shall be used for the construction, upgrading or expansion of government healthcare facilities and purchase of hospital equipment.
He said the Senate allocated P20.710 billion for the HFEP, while the House version was at P17.478 billion, or a difference of P3.231 billion.
Also under the Senate version, budget for DOH-operated hospitals were also increased so Filipinos needing medical attention, especially those who need specialized services, can be accommodated.
“More indigent and financially-incapacitated patients will also receive the assistance they need with the Senate’s intervention in the 2022 budget,” Angara said.
Angara, however, said the education sector will still get a lion’s share of the proposed national budget, with the Department of Education receiving an increase of P6.742 billion, while the State Universities and Colleges’ budget will be upped by P26.569 billion, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s budget had increased by P1.46 billion.
Special provisions were also introduced in the education sectors’ monthly operating and other expenses (MOOE) for improvements or modification of classrooms, labs, and other spaces for proper ventilation, and for the procurement of COVID-19 test kits for faculty and staff members.
Extra cash allowances, including the teaching supplies allowance, was also included to assist public school teachers.
Angara said budget for the DepEd’s Last Mile Schools Program and for electrification of unenergized schools and modernization of electrical systems of on-grid schools were also provided.
The Tulong Trabaho Fund was also augmented by P500 million so that “more from our workforce will be equipped with the necessary skills to meet the challenges of rapidly evolving workplaces and work structures.”
“Education will continue to receive the lion’s share of the national appropriations. This will be particularly important as we consider the expansion of face-to-face classes to more schools across the country,” Angara said.
He said other departments have also significant increases in their proposed budgets to cope with the pandemic.
‘QUESTIONABLE FUNDING’
Yesterday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson disclosed his proposed institutional amendments to the budget bill as he sought cuts in what he said were “questionable” appropriations and requested that the amounts be realigned for programs, activities and projects of the education, information and technology, and defense sectors.
He said he proposed to decrease by P1.97 billion the proposed funding for farm-to-market roads under the Department of Agriculture — from P6.95 billion in the House version to P4.98 billion as specified in the executive branch’s NEP.
Lacson said under the Supreme Court’s Mandanas ruling and Executive Order 138, full devolution of functions to local government units is already mandated, thus the implementation of farm-to-market road programs should be transferred to LGUs.
“Also, there was no consultation made with the DA before the increase in the funding,” Lacson said.
On the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the senator sought to slash by P2 billion the National Greening Program — from P3.68 billion to P1.68 billion — on the basis of the adverse Commission on Audit performance audit in 2019.
Lacson also sought cuts in the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), specifically P1 billion (from P3.01 billion) in its Monthly Operations and Other Expenses (MOOE) for the routine maintenance of national roads, P200 million (from P710 million) for routine maintenance of public buildings, P500 million (from P1.61 billion) for flood control and drainage systems, P1.36 billion (from P4.56 billion) in the central office for preliminary engineering/detailed engineering of various DPWH projects, P300 million (from P800 million) for feasibility studies including business case study for potential Public-Private Partnership projects, P600 million (from P1.6 billion) for parcellary surveys, land appraisal and titling of public infrastructures (including taxes); P500 million from right-of-way payments for various ongoing and future projects, P100 million deduction from EDSA rehabilitation and improvement, P500 million in lump sums; and P44 million from each regional allocation for structural improvement of public buildings and construction of evacuation centers.
NTF ELCAC
THE National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) yesterday said it will submit to the Senate the latest status report of the barangay development projects to convince senators to restore its P28.1 billion proposed budget for next year.
The Senate finance committee had slashed the proposed funding of the task force to only P4 billion due to the NTF ELCAC’s failure to submit its expenditures for this year.
The task force was given a budget of P19.33 billion in 2021, of which P16.4 billion was allocated for the Barangay Development Program that calls for the construction of various projects in barangays formerly infested by communist rebels.
“If the senators are having doubts (how NTF-ELCAC funds are spent), don’t worry we are going to submit what they need. We have a new report that shows some projects are 30 percent, 60 percent, 95 percent complete,” said National Security Adviser and NTF ELCAC vice chairman Hermogenes Esperon during the “Laging Handa” press briefing.
Of the 2,318 projects that are programmed under the 2021 NTF-ELCAC budget, Esperon said 44 are already completed, 794 are in the process of being implemented, while the rest are in various “procurement stage.”
Esperon said local government officials are in charge of the implementation of these projects but are monitored by the various agencies of the government, including the military and police establishments.
He said the government started releasing the budget for these projects last April. “We all know that the use of this budget is good for two years. We believe that before the first quarter (of next year), these (projects) will be almost 80 percent complete,” he said.
If the NTF-ELCAC will be given a budget of just P4 billion, Esperon said each of the barangays, formerly infested by the rebels, will be getting around P2.5 million worth of projects only, instead of P20 million.
“That (P4 billion budget) is not enough to solve the problem in the barangays,” he stressed, referring to the issues that the communist movement is taking advantage of to recruit new members.
He urged lawmakers not to put political color to the implementation of the barangay development projects, saying: “There’s no politics here. It’s all about ending the local communist armed conflict. This is not pork barrel, this is not about politics.” — With Victor Reyes
