Pork barrel idadagdag sa pondo ng National ID, UHC at Quality Tertiary Education

ISINUSULONG NGAYON NI Senador Panfilo Lacson na madagdagan ang pondo para sa implementasyon ng National ID, Universal Health Care at Quality Tertiary Education sa 2020, sa pamamagitan ng realignment sa ilang malalabong gastusin sa 2020 budget.

Ayon kay Lacson, kakarampot ang inilaan ng orihinal na panukalang badyet para sa tatlong maituturing na “landmark” na programa ng kasalukuyang administrasyon. “The National ID system needs at least P5.565 billion in 2020 to cover the registration of some 14 million Filipinos and resident aliens. But the proposed 2020 budget presently allocates only P2.4 billion under the unprogrammed fund for it. This amount covers only 6.3 million Filipinos,” pagsisiwalat ng senador.

Mahigit 100 milyong Pinoy ang makikinabang sa national ID na tinatayang ganap na maipapatupad sa loob ng apat na taon kung aayudahan ng sapat na pondo, ani Lacson.

“It will expedite and ease a lot of transactions with public and private institutions. Even in the government’s revenue collection, you can use this as a weapon,” paliwanag pa ni Lacson patungkol sa naturang batas na kanyang itinaguyod sa Senado.

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Ayon kay Lacson, maaaring pagkuhanan ng pondo para sa programang ito ang malabong gastusin tulad ng pork barrel at “duplicative projects.”

“There are many items in the 2020 budget that can be realigned for the National ID. One of them is the National Greening Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,” wika pa ni Lacson.

Ayon kay Lacson, may mga P14 bilyon sa panukalang badyet ng DPWH para sa susunod na taon ang hindi maipaliwanag ng maayos ng pamunuan ng ahensiya dahil walang konsultasyon sa kanila. “Such projects are usually inserted by legislators without consultation with the implementing agency – a.k.a. pork,” ayon pa kay Lacson.

Isa pang malabong gastusin ang National Greening Program ng DENR dahil bagama’t ilang bilyong piso na ang inilaan dito sa mga nakalipas na taon, hindi naman lumawak ang mga berdeng kapaligiran, bagama’t sa susunod na taon ay pinaglaanan pa ng P5 bilyon.

“It is much better if we prioritize the National ID system, which is much more worthwhile than the National Greening Program

whose output we have yet to see,” dugtong pa ng mambabatas at hindi rin umano nalalayo sa National ID ang sitwasyon ng UHC dahil sa bitin na pondo.

“The proposed 2020 budget to fund the UHC Act, meanwhile, is in regression and will fund only the Department of Health’s on-going programs, activities and projects instead of enhancing its implementation to include additional programs with a fiscal space of P151 billion instead of P241 billion, to allow it to cross over to medium cost or P257 billion for its highcost implementation that will cover all barangays in the country,” paliwanag pa ni Lacson.

“On the other hand, the funding for Tertiary Education Subsidy can support only 432,000 out of 1.5 million applicants,” dagdag pa nito. (May karagdagang ulat mula Mindanao Examiner.)