P4.5-T budget hurdles House

THE House of Representatives passed on third and final reading the proposed P4.5-trillion 2021 national budget on Friday after four days of marathon deliberations in a special session called by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco presided over the nominal voting and announced the approval of House Bill 7727 or the “2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB),” with 257 members voting yes, 6 voting no and no abstentions.

Velasco thanked his colleagues for heeding Duterte’s call for the swift passage of the GAB.

“I commend you my fellow representatives that despite the differences in viewpoints, we have proven to the

Filipino people that we can actually work together and get things done,” Velasco said in his address to the plenary after the passage of the bill.

“I assure you and the President that we will not have a reenacted budget by January of next year. We will transmit without delay the approved bill to the Senate and give our counterpart sufficient time to likewise examine the national budget,” he added.

Velasco called the measure an “extraordinary budget for extraordinary times.”

The House has created a small committee, to be led by Majority

Leader Martin Romualdez, to handle individual amendments that will be entertained until October 19.

The GAB was approved amid concerns it would be delayed and fears of a reenacted 2020 budget that would not cover appropriations for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response and economic recovery programs.

Duterte called for the special session for the swift, “legal,” and “constitutional” passage of the budget bill. This was after the House under the leadership of then Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano prematurely passed the bill on second reading on October 6 and suspended plenary sessions without completing the deliberations for 18 government agencies.

After Velasco took over as speaker, the House recalled the approval of

the bill on second reading.

Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. lamented the Department of Budget and Management’s failure “to revise the budgets of key agencies to reflect the demands of the pandemic.”

Abante said only P2.5 billion was allocated for the procurement of vaccines when the country needs at least P12 billion to cover immunization of at least 20 million poor Filipinos.

Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also lamented the priorities of the proposed national budget that he said has disregarded bigger funds for health, financial assistance for the people affected by the pandemic, and support to health workers, and the effective, scientific and human response to the pandemic.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said government appears to be shifting its priority to infrastructure spending from health and social services.

Brosas said the P1.1 trillion was allocated to infrastructure spending, with P461 billion going to the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) central office and P739 billion to regional offices.

On the other hand, only 0.2 percent or P10.3 billion is allocated for the Department of Health’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) for upgrading government hospitals and healthcare facilities, Brosas said.

Only P12.6 billion was also allotted for specialty hospitals, she said.

Appropriations Vice Chairman Jose Maria “Joey” Salceda, who stood as the sponsor for the General

Principles and Provisions of the GAB, assured that HFEP allocation will be increased.

“It’s a moral duty of Congress to correct this fundamental and empirical mistake of DBM (Department of Budget and Management),” Salceda said.

Bohol Rep. Edgar Chatto called for increasing the Department of Education’s budget by P20 billion to cover the printing of modules for distance learning.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Jane Elago also submitted as a proposed amendment that restores the P11.8 billion appropriation for the Commission on Higher Education and raising the allocation for state universities and colleges to P74.3 billion.