IC reverts ICT budget to DBM

The Insurance Commission (IC) wants to revert back its budget for information and communications technology (ICT) modernization to the national government amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said he wrote Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado to manifest his plan to discontinue the agency’s ₱1-billion ICT modernization program scheduled this year. According to Funa, the fund should be instead used for the national government’s COVID-19 response. The insurance chief, however, assured that his plan is in accordance with the April 22, 2020 National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 580 and Republic Act No. 11469, otherwise known as the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.” RA No. 11469 directs the executive department, including the IC, to discontinue certain appropriated projects, activities, or programs under the 2019 and 2020 national budget, including those unreleased appropriations and unobligated released allotments. “It is the firm belief of this Commission that the primordial consideration is how best it can assist the President in helping save more of our countrymen from the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Funa’s letter dated June 10, 2020 read. (Chino S. Leyco)