Philippines pushes P240 billion for COVID-19 response in 2022 budget

The Philippines has allocated more than P240 billion for the government’s response against the COVID-19 pandemic in the proposed 2022 budget, Malacañang announced Thursday.

The amount is part of the P5.024-trillion National Expenditure Program that will be submitted to Congress on Monday, August 23.

“Umpisahan naman po natin ang ating briefing sa funding requirements para sa COVID-19 response efforts sa taong 2022. Ang sumatotal po ay P240,747,386,000,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a live briefing.

(Let’s start the briefing with the funding requirements for our COVID-19 response efforts in 2022. The total is at PP240,747,386,000.)

Roque said the Department of Education will receive P99 billion, the largest chunk of the fund, for flexible learning options, textbooks and other instructional materials, and school operations.

Following this was the Department of Health, which is set to receive P93 billion for health facilities, prevention and control of communicable diseases, health facility policy, assistance to indigent patients, and procurement of supplies, among others.

The Department of Labor and Employment, meanwhile, will receive P33.6 billion for displaced workers, the Government Internship Program, livelihood program, and adjustment measures program.

Roque said P11.5 billion will be allocated to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to fund the promotive social welfare program as well as the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Program.

Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will receive P11.2 billion for the emergency repatriation of overseas Filipino workers and the reintegration services for OFWs.

Both the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry will receive more than P1 billion while the University of the Philippines will receive P140 million for the Philippine genomic information Resource Hub.

“Emphasize ko po na ito ay preliminary. Ito po ‘yung nakasaad sa National Expenditure Plan pero ito ay puwedeng baguhin po, syempre, ng Kongreso. Puwedeng dagdagan, puwedeng bawasan,” Roque said.

(I would just like to emphasize that this is only preliminary. This is included in our National Expenditure Plan, but this can be adjusted by Congress. They can increase the budget or decrease it.) -- BAP, GMA News