Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 29) — President Rodrigo Duterte has certified the approval of next year’s budget as urgent, the House of Representatives announced on Wednesday.
Duterte’s letter calling for the immediate enactment of House Bill 10152 – or the 2022 General Appropriations Bill – was read during the House’s plenary session.
Congress is still in the middle of deliberating the proposed ₱5.024-trillion national budget. The education sector is set to receive the highest initial allocation worth ₱773 billion. The Department of Health (DOH) was only allotted around ₱242 billion so far.
Among contentious provisions in the bill amid the COVID-19 pandemic include the ₱200 million for the Visayas Media Hub of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, and the ₱28-billion budget for the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict for its anti-insurgency campaign. Lawmakers also questioned the Tourism Department’s ₱1.5-billion budget for Philippine tourism branding.
Meanwhile, the DOH is seeking an additional ₱49 billion to fund healthcare workers’ benefits since the Department of Budget and Management had slashed the allocation for special risk allowances.
