Senate opens plenary debates on P5-T budget for 2022

The Senate on Wednesday opened the plenary debates on the P5-trillion national budget for 2022 contained in the General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The lawmakers are scheduled to tackle the general principles of the 2022 GAB, as well as the appropriations for the government’s economic cluster, namely the Department of Finance, National Economic Development Authority, and Department of Budget and Management.

The upper chamber will also debate on the budgetary support to government corporation and allocations to the local government units which include the budgets for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Local Government Support Funds, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, among others.

On Tuesday night, Senate finance committee chairman Sonny Angara sponsored the 2022 GAB on the floor.

Among the highlights of the Senate’s version of the budget is the increases in the budgets of the Department of Health and its attached agencies.

Health-related programs will also receive the following funding:

• at least P6.28 billion for the emergency hiring of human resources for health, including funds for the vaccinators;
• P51 billion for COVID-19 benefits and compensation for frontliners;
• almost P2 billion for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program of the DOH across the regions;
• P16.85 billion for the COVID-19 testing; and
• P45.3 billion for the purchase, logistical requirements, delivery and storage of booster shots.

Angara previously tagged the Senate version of the budget as a “COVID-19 recovery budget.”

For the education sector, there are funds for the implementation of face-to-face classes, educational assistance and subsidy, quality assurance of learning resources, alternative learning system, special education program, mental health policy, and the Philippine High School for the Arts.

The Senate version added other kinds of social assistance for those affected by the pandemic, including:

• social amelioration amounting to at least P2,500 a month for two months for families who have low or no incomes, homeless, street families, returning OFWs, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and other indigents;
• P600 a month rice subsidy for the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program;
• cash for work program;
• free COVID-19 test for job seekers; and
• support for senior citizens’ social pension.

For the agriculture sector, there will be additional support for the training component of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, Provincial Agricultural and Fisheries Extension System, and National Rice Program.

There are also funds allotted for fuel subsidy and PUV service contracting, modernization, EDSA Busway Project, support for Active Transportation and Safe Pathways, and Road Transformation Project for the transportation sector.

The Senate GAB likewise includes significant increases in the budget of the Department of National Defense, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its different branches.

Angara said they are aiming to approve the budget measure on third and final reading on November 25. —KG, GMA News