President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law on Monday the country’s ₱4.506 trillion national budget for next year or the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2021.
The national budget themed “Reset, Rebound, and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability” will aid the country to start anew through responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, to “rebound by boosting infrastructure development and by generating job opportunities, and rebuild by assisting communities adapt to the post-pandemic life.”
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the social services sector has been allocated the “largest bulk” or 37 percent of the budget with ₱1,668.0 billion, followed by the economic services sector with 29.4 percent or ₱1,323.1 billion. The general public services sector was allocated 16.6 percent amounting to ₱747.8 billion, while the Debt Burden was given 12.4 percent or ₱560.2 billion, and the defense sector with 4.6 percent allocation or ₱206.8 billion.
According to the DBM, the top 10 agencies with the highest allocation are:
• Education sector – ₱751.7 billion (16.7 percent)
• Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) – ₱695.7 billion (15.4 percent)
• Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) – ₱249.3 billion (5.5 percent) • Department of Health (DOH) – ₱210.2 billion (19.6 percent)
• Department of National Defense (DND) – ₱205.8 billion
• Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – ₱176.9 billion
• Department of Transportation (DOTr) – ₱87.9 billion
• Department of Agriculture (DA) – ₱71.0 billion
• Judiciary – ₱45.3 billion
• Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) – ₱37.1 billion.
The DBM said the budget “prioritize(s) health-related COVID-19 response programs to address the continuing threat of the pandemic,” through allocating a budgetary support of ₱71.4 billion to the National Health Insurance Program, ₱16.6 billion for the Human Resources for Health Program, ₱4.7 billion for PPEs, and an additional ₱1 billion for GeneExpert cartridges.
Around ₱7.8 billion were also allotted for the repair and construction of health facilities and equipment and some ₱283 million for the establishment of Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines.
“Some ₱2.5 billion is allocated under the DOH budget and a further PhP70.0 billion is provided under the FY 2021 Unprogrammed Appropriations for COVID-19 vaccine procurement and logistics,” it added.
President Duterte is expecting that the budget will continue the Build, Build, Build program, boost the industry and service sector, and to support social services. He also emphasized the allocation of ₱72.5 billion for the vaccination program.
“This administration will ensure efficient use of resources to sound fiscal policy that will enable us to overcome the debilitating effects of the pandemic…This coming year, we intend to recover as one,” he assured. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio, PTV News Online
