FUNDING for health, education and infrastructure under the proposed P4.5-trillion General Appropriations Act of 2021 is enough to bring back consumer confidence and revive the economy by second quarter of next year, a leader of the House of Representatives said on Monday.
On the first day of plenary deliberations of the 2021 national budget, House Committee on Appropriations Senior Vice Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said next year’s budget is the primary policy instrument of the national government to pursue the goals for its people.
“With the 2021 national budget, the Bayanihan to Health As One, the Bayanihan to Recover As One, as well as the existing budget, we will be able to have minimum health standard that will allow the economy to return to normalcy. At least my own projection by second quarter of 2021,” said Salceda.
“The only benchmark that matters now is pre-pandemic levels. [Beyond that] it’s AmBisyon 2040,” he added.
According to Salceda, building business and consumer confidence through providing health protocols is the first step to reviving the country’s economy.
In her interpellation, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said a total of P106.9 billion was allocated as Covid-19 response for 2021. The P106.9-billion fund has been distributed in the budgets of Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, Department of Tourism, and social protection programs of the government.
Besides the said funding, Salceda also told Quimbo that P450 billion has been appropriated as infrastructure funds, saying this investment has high multiplier effects on the economy.
Crucial to recovery
For his part, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Eric Go Yap, sponsor of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill, said the proposed budget is crucial to the country’s recovery from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic as it will serve as an investment for resiliency and sustainability.
“We stand along with the budget philosophy of this administration that more than our priorities for a responsive and dynamic governance, we have to focus our resources to the most urgent priority—to reset our momentum and action, rebound for the devastating effect of the pandemic on the health and economy, and fully recover from the current and continuing impact of this crisis,” said Yap in his speech.
Yap said the pandemic has curbed the opportunities for socioeconomic growth and development as many Filipinos lost their jobs and livelihood, while many enterprises and companies closed down.
“This budget carries the aspiration of our Filipino people to recover from the hardship brought by the pandemic to our livelihood and to recover the country’s economic growth,” he added.
“The timely passage of the General Appropriations Bill will ensure that our government, through its programs and projects, will be able to rebound, reset and recover our lost momentum,” he said.
With the theme of “Reset, Rebound and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability,” the 2021 expenditure plan is higher than this year’s budget by 9.9 percent and equivalent to 21.8 percent of GDP.
By expense class, personnel services will receive the bulk of next year’s allocation at 29.2 percent, reaching P1.32 trillion. This level considers the huge additional hiring of health workers under the Human Resource for Health Program of the Department of Health, the second tranche implementation of the Salary Standardization Law of 2019, and the increased pension requirements of military and uniformed personnel.
Capital outlays will come in second with P920.5 billion, accounting for 20.4 percent of the proposed budget and growing by 12.9 percent. The increase in capital outlays from this year’s budget is owed mainly to the increase in infrastructure programs of the Department of Public Works and Highways (14.7 percent) and Department of Transportation (42.6 percent).
Meanwhile, maintenance, operating and other expenditures will amount to P699.4 billion; debt burden with P560.2 billion; support to government-owned and -controlled corporations with P157.5 billion; and tax expenditures with P14.5 billion.
The Department of Education, including state universities and colleges, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, remains the top agency with the biggest slice from the proposed budget with an allocation of P754.4 billion.
This is followed by Department of Public Works and Highways with a proposed budget of P667.3 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government with P246.1 billion; the Department of National Defense with P209.1 billion; the Department of Health with P203.1 billion; the Department of Social Welfare and Development with P171.2 billion; the Department of Transportation with P143.6 billion; the Department of Agriculture with P66.4 billion; the Judiciary with P43.5 billion; and the Department of Labor and Employment with P27.5 billion.
Based on the schedule of sponsorship and floor deliberations, the sponsorship will be finished by October 7.
The House wants to transmit to the Senate the 2021 national budget before the 18th Congress takes its break on October 17.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes