MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is likely to sign the P4.1-trillion national budget only in January next year, which means the government will work on a reenacted budget at least for the first month of 2020.
“He said he will sign it by first week of January,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a press briefing yesterday, adding that Duterte will go through the details of the budget submitted to him by Congress last week.
Malacañang assured the public that the President will not allow any insertions in the 2020 budget, and that there might be a possibility that he will veto certain provisions deemed illegal by the Chief Executive.
“If there are unconstitutional provisions, he will likely veto it,” Panelo said.
But Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano assured Duterte there is no “pork” in the proposed 2020 national budget.
“There is really no pork as defined by the Supreme Court. As a general rule, all projects are open to corruption. The question is: are there projects inherently open to corruption like lump sums under the discretion of lawmakers who can tell agencies where to use them? There is none,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte expects the budget measure to “propel the economy to a higher trajectory in 2020.”
As this developed, Duterte signed Republic Act 11464 last Dec. 24 to extend the validity of the 2019 national budget until Dec. 31, 2020 and to allow the continuity of appropriations of funds for the projects listed for this year. RA 11464 amends Section 65 of the 2019 General Appropriations Act that allows the spending of the budget only until Dec. 31 this year.
“All appropriations authorized in this Act shall be available for release and obligation for the purpose specified, and under the same special provisions applicable thereto, until December 31, 2020,” RA 11464 read
It also directs the proper agencies to submit reports to the House of Representatives and the Senate on the spending of the unused portions of the budget.
“Both the 2020 budget, which the President is due to sign in January, and RA 11464 would enable the government to sustain the catch-up spending strategy that President Duterte’s economic team put in place in this year’s third quarter to make up for the four and a half months of delay in the passage of the 2019 spending bill that hobbled economic growth in the first semester,” Villafuerte said.
DOH budget
The Department of Health (DOH) will get over P3.5 billion more for its budget next year after the House and Senate bicameral conference committee further increased the agency’s P96.36-billion budget, which was already increased by over P7 billion in the Senate-approved version.
When signed by President Duterte, the increase will be for the DOH’s budget for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) and Assistance to Indigent Patients (AIP).
In the copy of the ratified General Appropriations Act that was obtained by The STAR, the HFEP was increased from P5,864,710,000 to P8,351,610,000 or by P2.4 billion, while the AIP P9,439,974,000 to P10,483,474,000 or by over P1 billion.
The bicam also increased the funding for the Food and Drug Administration’s five-year development plan – from P567,032,000 to P631,108,000 – and created a new item for Sanitary Toilet Facilities with an allocation of P350 million.
The Senate earlier augmented the DOH’s budget outlay by P7 billion.
In the National Expenditure Program submitted by the Department of Budget and Management, the DOH’s Human Resources for Health Development Program was only given some P2.5 billion, which could only cover 11,000 workers.
The DOH asked Congress to increase the outlay budget, saying it would not suffice for hiring and salaries of 26,389 health workers in 2020. The P7-billion additional fund for DOH was taken from the DBM’s Miscellaneous Personnel Benefit Fund.
The DOH is also set to start implementing next year the Universal Health Care program, which is allotted P166.5 billion in the budget. Of this amount, P67.4 billion would be earmarked for government subsidy to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for free health insurance coverage for millions of Filipinos.
Some P9.5 billion would be for the deployment of health care personnel to the provinces, P9.4 billion for medical assistance to poor patients and P5.9 billion for health facilities.
Budget for education
Meanwhile, Sen. Sonny Angara said more school children would be covered by the school-based feeding program under the 2020 budget as Congress granted an increase of P17.1 billion to the education sector.
“Proper nutrition is key to improving the learning capabilities of school children. That is why the school-based feeding program is important because healthy children will have fewer absences and will be able to focus on studying more compared to when they are hungry,” said Angara, the principal author of Republic Act 11148 or the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act.
He added that a total of P8.349 billion was added to the budgets of 114 state universities and colleges. This includes the P2.786-billion fund to allow the University of the Philippines System to improve its hospital services program, renovation and construction of various buildings and the improvement of its fiber-optic network, among others.
The rest of the funds will be used by the SUCs for research awards and the conduct of activities for sports and development, ICT and campus modernization programs.
CHED was also granted an increase of P7.1 billion for its Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education and the provision of assistance and incentives, scholarships and grants through the Student Financial Assistance Program. Another P1 billion was provided to support the Private Education Students Financial Assistance Program.
“There were many priorities in the crafting of the national budget but education is always on top of the list. We are far from achieving our ideal standard in education and this was evident in the results of the 2018 PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) where the Philippines was at the bottom of 79 countries in math, science and reading literacy,” Angara said. “We must make sure that all children are given the proper education. And we must continuously improve our standards so that when our children graduate, they will be competitive.”
The DepEd’s budget for 2020 will also fund the special education program, education service contracting program and strengthening the National Educators Academy of the Philippines.
Schools still without electricity or those that require upgrading of their electrical connections will also be funded under the 2020 national budget.
Also funded in the budget are RA 11194 or the Conservation of the Gabaldon School Buildings Act, construction of schools in isolated and disadvantaged areas of the country under the Last Mile Schools Program, and the voucher program for private high school.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority was also given an increase in its budget for the implementation of the Tulong Trabaho Act, the training for work scholarship programs and special training for the employment program.
“The President has always been an advocate of providing affordable and quality education for all Filipinos. He has demonstrated this commitment when he signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act in 2017. We are confident he will once again support the interventions made by Congress to further strengthen the country’s education system,” Angara said.
To help ensure that DepEd and other government agencies are spending their funds efficiently, Angara said the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Public Expenditures (JCOCPE) would be meeting on a quarterly basis starting next year.– With Edu Punay, Jess Diaz, Cecille Suerte Felipe