Senate approves proposed budgets of OP, PMS

Sen. Bong Go, vice chair of the committee on finance, expressed his full support for the 2021 budgets of the Office of the President and its technical assistance arm, the Presidential Management Staff, during a budget hearing that he presided over last Monday.

The finance sub- committee approved the proposed 2021 budgets of OP and PMS at the committee level after several senators expressed their support and did not pose further questions.

Go delivered an opening statement urging the government to remain strong and united as the country overcomes the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

“In these trying times and the prospect of an uncertain future, this is my clarion call to each and every one of us,” the senator said.“We must never surrender. We should relentlessly fight and defend our country in the war against our invisible enemy.” He added it is in this same spirit that President Duterte, with the help of the OP and PMS, has worked to win the war against COVID-19.

Go noted the country’s decreasing number of COVID- 19 cases, which has fallen to 2,500 new cases per day while the number of new cases in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the pandemic, has also decreased to less than 1,000 new cases per day.

“I am certain that with the leadership of our President and by applying a whole-of-nation approach in the war against COVID-19, our nation will be able to defeat this virus,” said Go.

Go also emphasized that the President plays a central role in national security management and that the welfare of the Filipino nation has remained Duterte’s primordial concern. He expressed his full faith and confidence that the OP would use its funds judiciously.

The senator also reiterated the Palace’s call for the passage of Senate Bill 1844, a measure he co-authored together with other colleagues in the Senate, which will give the President the authority to expedite the processing of permits, licenses and certifications as well as curb red tape and prevent corruption.