MANILA, Philippines — The P72.5 billion earmarked for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines in the proposed 2021 national budget is like an unfunded check, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said yesterday as he expressed concern over the lack of a definite source of funds to immunize around 60 million Filipinos next year.
Drilon said there is uncertainty about how the government can raise at least P70 billion next year for the procurement of vaccine, as only P2.5 billion would be guaranteed in next year’s proposed P4.5-trillion spending program.
There is a global race to buy the vaccines, he said.
“It is unfortunate that in these uncertain times, the budget is creating additional uncertainty. This makes Filipinos wary about the future,” Drilon said.
“It is like we issue a check without adequate funding. Sana po hindi mag-bounce (We hope it doesn’t bounce),” he said, referring to the allocation of P70 billion under the “unprogrammed funds” provision of the 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
Congress is set to submit the GAB to President Duterte next week. However, only P2.5 billion, out of the P72.5 billion, is funded.
Unprogrammed appropriations provide a standby authority for the executive branch to spend more if there are excess revenues, additional grants or foreign loans.
“Our health system unfortunately at this stage is a big question mark to me because of the very fluid plans for the acquisition, funding of the vaccine and the logistical expense that goes with it. No definite revenue source is identified,” Drilon also said during the Senate session on Wednesday.
“I guess we just have to look up at the sky and pray,” he said.
He earlier called out the administration for submitting a “business-as-usual” budget, which exposes the government’s misplaced priorities.
He lamented that while there is no clear funding for vaccines, there is P16.4 billion for anti-insurgency and P9.5 billion for confidential and intelligence funds.
Around 2.7 million Filipino families have slipped into poverty due to the pandemic and yet there is no allocation for social amelioration program for next year, he said.
Drilon said the P33 billion in idle funds at the Philippine International Trading Corp. is enough to vaccinate 60 million Filipinos.
But Sen. Sonny Angara said the ratified budget measure includes funding for new and unfunded laws that would have a positive impact on the lives of Filipinos.
Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on finance that drafted the proposed budget for next year, said they made sure there would be sufficient funding to cover for items such as the purchase of vaccines, testing, contact tracing and treatment.
“In our budget deliberations we went over all of the priorities set by the government and the requirements of the different departments and agencies. We also made sure that our recently enacted laws would be funded so as not to render them irrelevant,” Angara said.
He said some of these “recent” laws were enacted three years ago, or over the past year, awaiting signature by the President.
These include Senate Bill 1520 or the Medical Scholarship and Return Service Program or the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, which is now awaiting the signature of President Duterte.
The measure seeks to produce more doctors to attend to the health needs of Filipinos in all parts of the country by providing full medical scholarships to qualified and deserving students.
It also contains a provision for the development of medical schools in state universities and colleges, which was also addressed in the 2021 budget.
To ensure that cancer patients would receive much needed assistance in compliance with Republic Act 11215 or the National Integrated Cancer Control Act, Congress provided P620 million to the Department of Health (DOH) for its cancer assistance fund and for cancer medicines for children.
For the implementation of RA 11036 or the Mental Health Act, a total of P434.5 million was provided in the budgets of the DOH and Department of Social Welfare and Development.
To further expand and improve the coverage of free Wifi in public places, the Department of Information and Communications Technology was provided with P3.225 billion. This is for the implementation of RA 10929 or the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act.
The Department of Education (DepEd) was provided with P1.365 billion for the increase in the teaching supplies allowance for public school teachers from the present P3,500 to P5,000 in 2021.
This is contained in Senate Bill 1092, which seeks to raise this much needed allowance for the teachers over a span of three school years until it reaches P10,000. The Senate has requested the House of Representatives for its concurrence to the bill.
The registration for the Philippine Identification System (RA 11055) or the national ID system is ongoing and to ensure all targets and schedules are met, the Philippine Statistics Authority was provided with P4.32 billion in its budget. Another P2.5 billion was also included under the unprogrammed appropriations for the same purpose.
For the judiciary, to help clear up the courts’ dockets and to reduce or eliminate violent attacks against judges, a total of P295 million was provided for the implementation of RA 11459 or the Judges-at-Large Act and the creation of the Judicial Marshal Service, which is currently pending in Congress.