House panel approves P4.1-trillion budget for 2021

After two weeks of budget briefings, the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday approved the measure proposing the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.

House panel chair Eric Yap confirmed the development in a text to GMA News Online.

"Yes, approved na po sa committee level [ang] FY 2021 GAB (General Appropriations Bill)," he said.

The approval of the budget bill was made during an executive meeting of the House appropriations committee earlier in the day, he added.

The proposed 2021 national budget is 9.9% higher than this year's appropriation of P4.1 trillion.

Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, in submitting the 2021 National Expenditure Program to the House of Representatives last month, said next year's budget will sustain the government efforts and effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the focus of next year's appropriations include "government spending on improving our healthcare systems, ensuring food security, creating more jobs by investing on labor intensive projects, enabling a digital government and economy as well as helping communities cope in these trying times."

"Hence, the theme of the FY 2021 NEP is 'Reset, Rebound, and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability,'" he added.

Among the departments, the education sector composed of the Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges, the Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority will receive the biggest chunk of the budget, with a total of P754.4 billion.

The Department of Public Works and Highways follows with P667.3 billion, the Department of the Interior and Local Government with P246.1 billion, the Department of National Defense with P209.1 billion, and the Department of Health with P203.1 billion.

Completing the top 10 agencies with the highest budget allocation are 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.

The 2021 GAB was approved by the committee even as the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has yet to finish its budget briefing.

The PCOO's budget briefing was earlier suspended after members of the Makabayan Bloc slammed Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, who also serves as spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, for "red-tagging" the progressive lawmakers.

Yap said the PCOO's budget would now be deliberated in the plenary.

The committee report for the 2021 GAB will be referred to the plenary on Monday morning, with the sponsorship taking place in the afternoon of the same day, he added.

Yap earlier said that the House is targeting to submit the 2021 GAB to the Senate for its own deliberation and approval by October 14. -NB, GMA News