Glossing over health, education

THE Duterte government is wrong in cutting the budget for basic social services while allocating billions of additional funds to institutions liable for massive child rights violations.

Based on the 2019 National Budget proposed by the Department of Budget Management (DBM), the Basic Education Facilities Fund for 2019 suffered P69.4 billion budget cuts compared to 2018 while Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) fund of the Department of Health was trimmed of P30.3 billion.

On the other hand, the Duterte government is allocating the Department of National Defense (DND) with 183.4 billion, an increase of 46.9 billion or 34.4 percent from the 2018 budget and the Philippine National Police (PNP) with 172.6 billion from 132. 5 billion in 2018 or 30 percent increase.

Despite countless human rights violations allegedly committed by the DND and PNP, Duterte still prioritizes war on drugs and defense over social spending. Giving our hard-earned taxes to these institutions is like rubbing salt to the wounds of victims and signifies continuing violations and impunity.

Instead of increasing the budget of the DND and PNP, the government could have increased the budget of health and education agencies to hire additional personnel, increase their salaries and improve its facilities and other resources.

It’s alarming that there’s no new constructions of health facilities for next year despite the disturbing number of stunted and wasted Filipino children, increasing leptospirosis outbreaks and the expected full-blown impact of Dengvaxia in 2019.

We also note that children as one of the most vulnerable sectors are the most affected by the tax increase brought by the tax reform for acceleration and inclusion law (TRAIN) law. The government gets more money from the poor through TRAIN Law, and yet they don’t prioritize social services.

We will be launching “Bata Bantay Budget” (Child Budget Watchdog), to push for a child-friendly budgeting which prioritizes basic social services such as health, education and housing. This is to push for a child-friendly budgeting.

– Eule Rico Bonganay, secretary general, Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns