House approves P4.5-trillion 2021 budget on third, final reading

The House of Representatives on Friday night approved on third and final reading the proposed P4.5 trillion budget for 2021, the first general appropriations measure containing provisions to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two hundred sixty seven voted yes while six voted no.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the 2020 General Appropriations Act which contained no provisions for the COVID-19 budget would not be re-enacted due to a delayed passage of the measure.

"I assure you and the President that we will not have a re-enacted budget by January of next year," Velasco said.

"We will transmit without delay the approved bill to the Senate and give our counterparts sufficient time to likewise examine the budget," he added.

With the House's passage of the budget on final reading, House members granted President Rodrigo Duterte's call for the measure to be so approved when he called for a special session of Congress between from October 13 to 16. 

The former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on October 6 led the House in suspending session until November 16 after passing the budget on second reading even with pending plenary deliberations.

With the Senate expressing fears that the budget might be reenacted with the delayed final approval, Duterte called for the special session.

Majority of House members on October 12 voted Cayetano out and installed Velasco as the new House leader in accordance with the gentleman's agreement hatched in Duterte's presence in 2019.

The decision was ratified in plenary on October 13.

The House under Velasco on the same day recalled its second reading approval of the budget triggered by a motion made by the former speaker on October 6.

COVID-19 budget

House Ways and Means panel Chairman Joey Salceda, who sponsored the measure, said that the 2021 budget allocated P893 billion or 19.8% of it for the country’s COVID-19 response.

Of the P893 billion, P2.5 billion were earmarked for the procurement of anti-COVID-19 vaccine—an amount that is P10 billion short according to the Department of Health.

House Minority Leader Benny Abante of Manila shared the Health department's concerns, saying such amount will only cover 3.9 million Filipinos.

"That is just four percent of our population and way below the number the President (Rodrigo Duterte) wants vaccinated, even for free. Kailangan nating hanapan ito ng pondo," Abante said in his turno en contra speech.

Among government agencies, the Department of Education— including State Universities and Colleges, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority—got the lion’s share of the proposed budget at P754 billion.

The Department of Public Works and Highways ranked second with P667.3 billion.

Rounding up the top 10 agencies with highest allocations were:

• Department of Interior and Local Government with P246.1 billion
• Department of National Defense with P209.1 billion
• Department of Health with P203.1 billion including the budget for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation
• Department of Social Welfare and Development with P171.2 billion
• Department of Transportation with P143.6 billion
• Department of Agriculture with P66.4 billion
• Judiciary with P43.5 billion and
• Department of Labor and Employment with P27.5 billion.

Small committee

A small committee will still accept proposed amendments from various agencies until Monday next week for evaluation of House members in the small committee on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The draft budget bill as approved by the House will then be encoded by Thursday for submission to the Senate on October 28 on soft copy and later, for printing with the state-run National Printing Office (NPO).

With that timeline, House Appropriations panel Chairman Eric Yap expressed confidence that the passage of the proposed P4.5 trillion budget for next year would not be delayed.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa Senate, kasi inagahan rin po nila ang pagbubukas ng session. November 9 na po imbes na November 16. Kaya wala na po akong nakikitang dahilan para ma-delay or mare-enact ang budget for fiscal year 2021,” Yap said ahead of the budget approval.

Fears of re-enactment

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said he was bothered by the possibility that the proposed budget for 2021 would not be transmitted by the House of Representatives to the upper chamber until November 5.

"That's the same thing. That's the same proposal of Speaker Cayetano. If that's the case, we'll still be delayed. I think any of us who would be able to get in touch with the leadership in the House, tell them that we need it before October 30," he added.

But for House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, the approved budget in its present version surrenders’ Congress’ power of the purse to President Duterte due to special provisions allowing the President to realign the budget as long as state of calamity is in effect, on top of allowing the President to augment his office’s and other agency’s intelligence funds using savings.

“Pagsuko po ito sa ehekutibo ng ating kapangyarihan. Ito po ay pagkapon sa ating power of the purse na ginagarantiya ng ating Saligang Batas,” Zarate said.

"We are giving the Executive a blank check," Zarate added. -NB, GMA News