Vaccine budget sans funding source hit
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE 9:31 p.m., Dec. 11) — The bulk of Philippines’ funding for coronavirus vaccines next year remain unfunded, raising questions over the speed by which inoculation can be purchased and how quick can people be immunized.
Out of the P72.5-billion funds for vaccine procurement under the proposed 2021 budget, only P2.5 billion can be quickly released as it is a line item under the health department’s budget and therefore can easily be financed.
The huge balance of P70 billion, however, is considered “unprogrammed” which means government must certify either revenues collected are beyond target or that borrowings are there to fund the outlay.
“It is like we issue a check without adequate funding. Hopefully it won’t bounce,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a statement on Friday.
“It is unfortunate that in these uncertain times, the budget is creating additional uncertainty. This makes Filipinos wary about the future,” he added.
But Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, when sought for comment, said funding for vaccines would be made available “in due time.” “The DOF (Department of Finance) has already assured (us) that the government will procure the vaccine from loan proceeds,” he said in a text message.
Indeed, under budget rules, government may use debt proceeds to finance items not part of the original spending plan. In this case, that represents the P70 billion for vaccines lodged outside the proposed P4.5-trillion 2021 outlay and therefore may only be spent if extra financing sources are available.
What’s interesting is government need not struggle to collect more revenues to be able to utilize unprogrammed allocations— it just needs to borrow more. In the case of coronavirus vaccines set to be marketed next year, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said government is prepared to borrow P73 billion to fund immunization purchases.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate hit this plan, which would essentially balloon the government’s debt pile running at P10.03 trillion as of October. “The Duterte administration has incurred unprecedented borrowings … but the people have yet to feel that there has been an effective intervention to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said in a briefing.
When exactly the loans for vaccines will be finalized is unclear, but securing them as early as possible is vital to get the Philippines to sign contracts with drug makers now securing pre-orders for their inoculations under trial. Countries like South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam have all pre-ordered coronavirus vaccines.
"Even if allocations for the COVID-19 vaccine will be lodged under unprogrammed funds, rest assured that this will not affect how quick we can procure the vaccines," Budget Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo said in a text message.
So far, the most the Philippines had managed to do is to sign an agreement with AstraZeneca, the British pharmaceutical which is among firms developing coronavirus vaccines. But the agreement signed was just in behalf of private firms which pledged to purchase 2.6 million doses of vaccines, half of which will go to their employees.
To compare, the Philippines plans to immunize 60 million people against coronavirus to achieve herd immunity.
Editor's note: Included Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo's statement
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