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SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go assured that President Rodrigo Duterte will sign the national budget of P4.5 billion for 2021 on Monday, December 28, 2020 in Malacañang, but revealed that he was expected to veto some items.
“So he [President Duterte] He is very concerned that his budget will be approved and he will sign that by January 1 we will have a working budget (so [President Duterte] he himself is very concerned that the budget is signed, so that by January 1 we will have a working budget, “said Go, a longtime ally of the president and former aide to the Palace.
He said that the president himself is in a hurry to have the budget before January 1, so that we can fight the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), help people, buy things, medical equipment and the vaccine.
The executive director was supposed to sign the budget measure in Davao city, but shortened his stay to be back in Manila to meet with members of the anti-pandemic task force and other health experts on Saturday.
The 2021 national budget is expected to provide more funding for the government’s response to the pandemic, as well as efforts to recover from the harsh economic impact of the public health crisis.
Go, vice chairman of the Senate finance committee, said that the 2021 national budget includes allocations for the procurement of drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the strain of the virus that causes Covid-19.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. shared that Duterte vetoed some items but declined to reveal what they were. According to Roque, the Department of Budget and Management has long been preparing its recommendations to the president on the 2021 budget.
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said that the 2021 budget includes an allocation of P70 billion for the purchase of vaccines, their storage, transportation and distribution.
The Department of Education gets the largest share of the 2021 national budget with P708.18 billion, followed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with P694.82 billion.
The Health Department, which is tasked with procuring the vaccines next year, will get the largest third of the budget with P287.47 billion.
The other agencies that complete the top 10 recipients of public funds next year are as follows: Department of the Interior and Local Government, P247.50 billion; Department of National Defense, P205.47 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P176.65 billion; Department of Transportation, P87.44 billion; Judiciary, P44.10 billion; and Department of Labor and Employment, P36.60 billion.
Among senators, only Senator Panfilo Lacson voted against the bicameral committee’s report on the 2021 national budget, citing the questionable increase in the DPWH budget.
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