Congress targeting to allot P90-B programmed funds for health workers' SRAs

The Congress is targeting to allocate at least P90 billion for the special risk allowances of healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to House Committee on Appropriations chairman Representative Eric Yap.

Lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives started Monday the bicameral conference committee meeting to discuss the disagreeing provisions in their respective versions of the proposed P5.024 trillion budget for fiscal year 2022.

Given that the proposed national budget is meant to prioritize COVID-19 pandemic response, Yap said a huge amount of it would be allotted for the benefits of medical frontliners.

"Malaki ang ilalagay natin sa SRA kasi nga 'yung DOH (Department of Health) parang hindi sila naglagay ng SRA doon sa NEP (National Expenditure Program) eh. So kailangan naming lagyan 'yung SRA kasi marami pong health workers natin ang umaasa dito," Yap told reporters.

(We will allocate a huge portion of this budget to the SRAs because it seems that the DOH did not include the SRAs in the NEP. So we need to provide funds for the SRAs of health workers. Many of them are expecting it.)

"Sa amin, may nilagay kami sa unprogrammed pero hopefully dapat umabot siya ng P90 billion sa programmed. 'Yun 'yung target namin," he added.

(We placed some in unprogrammed [funds] but hopefully, this will reach P90 billion in programmed funds. That's our target.)

The Department of Budget and Management defines programmed funds as appropriations with definite or identified funding as of the time the budget is prepared.

A key amendment to the budget bill version of the House of Representatives was the allocation of P4.5 billion for the SRAs of qualified public and private health workers.

In the previous months, several groups of health workers from both government hospitals and the private institutions complained about the non-release of their SRAs and the removal of their other benefits such as meal and transportation allowance even as they continue to be on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic.

Health workers have staged protests over these unreleased benefits. They even demanded the ouster of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and President Rodrigo Duterte.

When the Senate approved the proposed budget last week, Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the chamber's Committee on Finance, said there is a need to prioritize funding for the health sector considering the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Angara has said the budget for the DOH gets around a P48-billion increase as compared to the version passed by the House of Representatives.

NTF-ELCAC

Meanwhile, Yap was also asked about the budget that was allocated for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

The Senate allotted P10.8 billion for this controversial task force while the House of Representatives retained the P28 billion that was initially allotted to it.

Asked if the House will push for the further increase of the NTF-ELCAC's budget, Yap said if it is possible, they will increase it as he reiterated that the priority is the SRAs of healthcare workers.

"Kung kakayanin. Kasi katulad ng sinabi ko, ang importante sa amin ngayon, sa ating lahat is 'yung SRA kasi 'yung mga health workers natin eh hindi pa tapos ang laban natin sa COVID. May new variant pa naman. So isa 'to sa mga priorities natin and siyempre 'yung mga ayuda po," Yap said.

(If it's possible because as I've said, what's important is the SRAs of the health workers. We are not yet done with our battle against COVID. There's even the discovery of a new variant. So this is one of our priorities, along with financial assistance.)

"'Yung ELCAC na ito kung ano man ang itaas ng Senate eh sa amin okay 'yun. In the first place wala talaga kaming tinanggal," Yap added.

(As for the NTF-ELCAC budget, we will welcome it if the Senate decides to further increase its budget. In the first place, we did not cut anything.)

During the Senate plenary debates on the proposed 2022 budget, it was revealed that only 26 out of the 2,318 projects were completed by the NTF-ELCAC. This was the reason why the Senate panel initially slashed the budget of the anti-insurgency task force.

House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said they expect plenary discussions on the bicam-approved version next week.

"We join our good senators in wishing that disagreeing provisions of the Senate and House versions of the 2022 GAB be threshed out in a week’s time," Romualdez said in a separate statement.

"It is to the best interest of our people that the 2022 General Appropriations Act be signed by President Duterte before the end of the year so as to avoid a reenacted budget in 2022," he added.

Meanwhile, Yap said the budget is targeted to be ratified by next week.

He said he is hoping it will be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte before Christmas Day. —KG, GMA News