Voting 22-0-0, the Senate on Thursday approved on third and final reading its version of the proposed ₱4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has the biggest allocation with a budget increase of ₱712.348B to support flexible learning options, including school supplies and teachers’ allowances, and quality assurance of learning modules.
“Malaking pagtaas ang ilalaan para sa development, reproduction at delivery ng iba’t-ibang learning resources… Hindi agad-agad makakabalik sa eskwelahan ang ating mga anak hangga’t hindi sila nababakunahan (A big increase was allocated for the development, reproduction, and delivery of various learning resources…Our children cannot immediately report to school without getting vaccinated),” Finance Committee Chairperson Sonny Angara stated.
The Department of Health (DOH) was also given more budget for vaccines with ₱8B under the Office of the Secretary (OSEC), ₱54B under unprogrammed appropriations for vaccines, and ₱21 under unprogrammed appropriations for storage, transportation and distribution costs of vaccines.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) was also given ₱1B for contact tracing operations and ₱15.741B for the continuous hiring and employment of 23,364 human resources for health.
In response to disasters, ₱21B was allotted to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) Fund and ₱15B for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance Program for local governments (LGUs).
Under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) budgetary increase, ₱105M was allotted for shared service facilities, ₱200M for One Town, One Product (OTOP), ₱500M for Livelihood Seeding Program-Negosyo sa Barangay, ₱300M for Regional Inclusive Innovation Cluster, ₱50M for “Project Stride” on Consumer Protection, and ₱30M for the Bamboo Industry Development.
Also included under increased allotments are ₱226M for ports and ₱1.228B for airports.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has a total increase of ₱5.202B with ₱4.956B for the Office of the Secretary (OSEC); ₱245.837M for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), an increase of ₱1B from the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for free Wi-Fi in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and public places, and an increase of ₱5.902B from GAB for national broadband plan.
Meanwhile, ₱250M was allotted for the 2021 Olympics, ₱200M for the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), ₱100M for Asian Regional Games, ₱5.0M for training for Arnis Sports, ₱8.709M for training and development for the Philippine Bowling Federation, ₱3.0M for training and support for Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas, ₱5.0M for training and support for the Philippine Football Federation, and ₱5.0M for training and support for Samahang Basketbolista ng Pilipinas. – Report from Eunice Samonte
