Senate’s ‘understanding’ sought
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 9) — If senators would have it their way, the Duterte administration’s controversial anti-communist insurgency task force would suffer a huge budget cut next year to provide funding for the allowances and benefits of healthcare workers.
After weeks of subcommittee hearings, the Senate committee on finance slashed ₱24 billion from the proposed 2022 budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, panel chairman Senator Sonny Angara told reporters on Tuesday.
Allocation for the NTF-ELCAC is now down to ₱4 billion under the latest version of the spending bill, with a separate ₱2.3 billion to be distributed to various agencies for the administrative and operational expenses in implementing the task force’s Barangay Development Program. It’s composed of various support projects for barangays deemed cleared of communist rebels.
The executive branch initially proposed a ₱28 billion funding for the hotly contested program, something the House of Representatives adopted.
This year, the NTF-ELCAC received ₱16.4 billion for its barangay assistance projects. Angara said they are still waiting for a report on how these funds were spent.
Senators insisted on cutting the NTF-ELCAC’s budget, with some even pushing for zero funding, Angara recalled.
“Insistent ‘yung senators because nalalakihan sila doon sa binigay namin this year (The senators were insistent because they find the budget we gave NTF-ELCAC this year to be too big)” Angara said.
“If you take it for the 850 barangays, it’s still about 5 million per barangay so we did not abolish the program all together. Although ‘yung iba, gustong wag na pondonhan ‘yun, nag-iwan pa rin kami doon (some wanted to withdraw funding but we still left some allocation there),” he added.
Aside from the NTF-ELCAC, the Senate committee is also proposing cuts to the budgets of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Transportation to make room for health interventions, Angara said.
₱51B for health workers’ benefits
Angara said ₱51 billion will go to the special risk allowance and other benefits of health workers, which were not funded in the executive’s proposed National Expenditure Program. In the General Appropriations Bill transmitted by the House, ₱4.5 billion was allotted for health workers’ benefits but senators want an additional ₱6.5 billion. This yields a total of ₱11 billion programmed funds for health workers’ compensation, while the remaining ₱40 billion are unprogrammed.
The Senate committee also seeks an additional ₱16.2 billion for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, for a total funding of ₱61.6 billion, Angara said. Of this amount, ₱45.3 billion are unprogrammed appropriations while the ₱16.2 billion is programmed under the budget of the Department of Health.
“I see a lot of government officials saying bakit sa unprogrammed nilagay, hindi naman napopondohan ‘yun. That’s not true,” Angara said. “Look at the ₱70 billion we put for (vaccines in) the 2021 budget, napondohan agad yun. If the executive wants to fund the unprogrammed, they can do it, that’s the bottomline.”
[Translation: “I see a lot of government officials saying, why put it under unprogrammed which does not get funding. That’s not true. Look at the ₱70 billion we put for vaccines in the 2021 budget, that was immediately funded. If the executive wants to fund the unprogrammed, they can do it, that’s the bottom line.]
All in all, under the Senate committee’s version of the 2022 budget, the health sector will receive a total of ₱312 billion — the third highest next to education and infrastructure.
Angara is set to sponsor the budget bill at the plenary on Tuesday. It will then be subjected to marathon interpellations, period of amendments, and bicameral conference committee meetings before the measure ratified by both houses is sent to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature.
While NTF-ELCAC vice chair and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said he recognizes the need to address COVID-19, he hopes senators would “understand” the task force’s efforts to end a 53-year-old insurgency.
He also urged the lawmakers to “take to heart the plight of people” in the areas affected by the prolonged armed conflict.
“We have spent almost a trillion to combat COVID-19, let’s have the political will to fight the long-standing number one political security threat in our country,” Esperon said in a statement.
