Delays avoided, Duterte to sign 2021 budget on Dec. 28
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte will be signing the P4.5-trillion budget into law on December 28 at his hometown in Davao City, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday.
The signing 4 days before the New Year breaks from the past 2 years that the government was forced to operate under an old budget when the calendar year changed because the new outlay was not yet enacted. Delays were longer in 2019 when the budget was signed 4 months into the year.
With the spending plan to be passed on time, new programs including those for pandemic response may be released to agencies, allowing them to contract services and purchase products early.
Next year’s budget would be 9.9% up from this year’s P4.1-trillion outlay and is considered by Duterte’s economic team as a vital component for economic recovery from the health crisis.
Broken down by top agency, the education sector, which includes the education department, Commission of Higher Education, state colleges and universities as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, got the largest chunk of the 2021 budget with P708.18 billion.
That sector is followed by the public works department, the state’s main infrastructure agency, allocated with P694.82 billion.
The interior department was next with P247.51 billion. The P16-billion budget for the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Conflict was retained.
The health department and Philippine Health Insurance Corp., which lead the government’s response to the pandemic, were granted P287.5 billion, 61.8% up from this year’s P177.7 billion that includes early allocations from COVID-19 response.
That amount included P70-billion in unprogrammed funds for vaccines which cannot be touched without additional revenues or borrowings. The Duterte government has come under fire recently for delays in preordering vaccines while neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia secured early deals from drug makers. — Xave Gregorio
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