Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano warned government agencies that how they delivered during the pandemic would determine how much they would get from the 2021 budget.

Cayetano gave the warning on Tuesday, August 25, afer the House of Representatives formally received from the executive branch the proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021.

The turnover signaled the beginning of the months-long budget deliberations for both the House and the Senate, which Cayetano hoped would be finished by November.

“I must give fair warning to the departments, and this is simply echoing what the President, said: if we find out that you’re offline, if we find out na hindi kayo maabot nang constituents, delayed sa inyo, nag-online nga kayo, hindi naman makarating, nagla-lockdown kayo nang napakatagal, na-delayed ‘yong inyong mga ano, don’t expect a smooth budget hearing or a good budget next year,” Cayetano said.

(If we find out that you’re offline, if we find that our constituents can’t reach you, that your services are delayed even if you have shifted online, that you would go on lockdown for too long, don’t expect a smooth budget hearing or a good budget next year.)

But the Speaker gave the assurance that departments providing crucial frontline services during the COVID-19 crisis – like the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – would be prioritized in the 2021 budget. 

“But for everyone else, especially those na may frontliners, may pintas man, – for example, DSWD, we super appreciate your efforts. And please tell us, alam naming kulang kayo ng tao, just like DOH, just like ‘yong mga frontliners po natin – Congress will be there for you,” Cayetano said. 

(But for everyone else, especially those with frontliners, even if you have shortcomings – for example, DSWD, we super appreciate your efforts. And please tell us what you need since we know you lack people like DOH, like our frontliners – Congress will be there for you.)

The Speaker himself had pushed for the House to investigate the delays in the DSWD’s distribution of its emergency cash aid for poor Filipino families affected by the pandemic.

Under the 2021 budget, the DSWD’s proposed funds was only P171.2 billion, much lower than this year’s P366.5 billion.

The DOH proposed budget was set at P203.1 billion. These would go to the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines at P2.5 billion, personal protective equipment at P2.7 billion, GeneXpert cartridges for COVID-19 tests at P1 billion, and P500 million for COVID-19 surveillance efforts.

However, the biggest chunk of the proposed DOH budget at about P71.4 billion was still allocated to the corruption-ridden Philippine Health Insurance Corporation. The PhilHealth was still under congressional investigation.

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As in the past years, the education sector – composed of the Department of Education, state of universities and colleges, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority – would get the lion’s share of the proposed 2021 budget at P754.4 billion.

The Department of Public Works and Highways would also receive the largest allocation among agencies at P667.3 billion. The Duterte government is counting on infrastructure as the key to reviving the recession-hit economy.

The 2021 budget is the first national expenditure program crafted by the Duterte government which is scrambling to fight the COVID-19 menace, which has already infected over 197,000 in the country. – Rappler.com