A BUDGE ON THE BUDGET

A BUDGE ON THE

BUDGET

Katrina Gabrielle L. Colibao Illustration by Lance Pahang

A good budget for the year is key to obtain progress in the country. It serves as a steering wheel, directing where our resources go. This goes without saying that state funding therefore must be properly allocated and distributed in order to meet the needs and demands of the people.

On October 1, the House of Representatives passed to the Senate the proposed P4.1 trillion 2020 national budget, House Bill No. 4228, also known as the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The enormous national budget, rising to 11.8% higher than the 2019 budget and constituting 19.4% of the country’s domestic product, points to the government’s unorthodox priorities for the next year. The top three departments to share the biggest appropriations are the Department of

Education (DepEd) with P673 billion, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with P534.3 billion, and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) with P238 billion.

Aside from the aforementioned, the Duterte administration also prioritized infrastructure and several social ventures. The Build, Build, Build program will receive a whopping P972.5 billion while the Universal Health Care program will receive P166.5 billion, where P67.4 billion of which will go to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC). On the other hand, the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be given P184.8 billion in the proposed budget, P546 million of which will fund the implementation of the Philippine Anti-Illegal Drug Strategy of the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Despite the clarity of the stated priorities, the 2020 budget raised some speculations especially during its first announcement. In an analysis by JC Punongbayan, writer and professor of Economics, he stressed three perversities. These include the mis-funding of a number of major social services such as basic education, free college tuition and health care, the potential return of “pork” money and lastly, the questionable increase of confidential and intelligence funds.

In the first version of the national budget, DepEd failed to obtain enough funds to supply schools with basic resources such as stocked classrooms and teachers. The department only acquired funding for 10,000 new classrooms and 10,000 teachers instead of the desired 65,000 more classrooms and 43,000 more teachers. Ironically, the Department of Health (DOH) also suffered a budget cut of at least P10 billion DOH initially acquired a total of P160.15 billion which was affront to the need for public immunization at a time when several epidemics such as measles, dengue, and polio are plaguing the country. However, because of how the budget is structured, it would be difficult to manage effectively. Aside from that, the budget cut is expected to cause unemployment to over 10,000 health personnel under the Human Resource for Health Deployment Program (HRHDP) and will worsen the conditions of poor, insufficient healthcare facilities and medical resources.

Another heavy speculation regarding the 2020 national budget is the possibility of “pork” projects. Although Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, assured that the 2020 national budget is free from “pork” allocations, the budget still allots P100 million for each House representative in pork-like projects where P70 million will be for “hard” infrastructure such as roads and P30 million for “soft” infrastructure such as educational and medical assistance programs. In total, a whopping P29.9 billion will be distributed to the 299 members of the House. Furthermore, he assured that there will be no pork barrel since every allotment is enumerated in the 2020 budget.

Contrary to the claims of Salceda, Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna disclosed that not all house members will be given the mentioned amount. He then suggested that the report of Salceda appeared to be like pork. “Even itemized allotments can be considered pork barrel as long as congresspersons exercise discretion on its implementation like selecting beneficiaries and contractors. We believe this is still a violation of the Supreme Court decision,” Zarate remarked.

It is not only the House of Representatives that will be given a gigantic share of the budget. The Office of the President (OP) has an appropriation of P4.5 billion for confidential and intelligence funds, which is 80% higher than last year’s P2.5 billion budget. A total of 19 agencies will receive confidential funds, but the OP takes the biggest share, at 64%. The Palace has claimed that these funds will be used to “secure the nation.” However, the authenticity of this claim will be hard to measure as confidential funds by nature are hard to audit. Thus, the public will not know for certain whether these funds will be used as stated.

Due to the uproar of the public regarding the said perversities, the senate seeks to improve the 2020 GAB proposed by the House of Representatives. During the Senate plenary held on November 11, amendments were made for education, health and social programs. In its Senate version, education, culture and manpower development became the top most priority of the government having 17.3% of the total amount and was followed by expenses related to the improvement of communications, roads and other forms of transportation in our country with 15.4% of the budget.

DepEd’s budget was added with at least P6.2 billion for government vouchers, the building of “last mile schools” and the preservation of Gabaldon school buildings built during the American period. Aside from that, the student financial assistance program and the implementation of the Free Tuition Law for higher education will each get an additional P8.5 billion. Although there has been no increase for DOH’s budget covering public immunization and the improvement of medical facilities and resources as of the moment, the finance panel granted P7 billion for the continued employment of healthcare professionals and personnel deployed in impoverished areas for 2020, as well as the 24-hour mental health hotline.

As of writing, there are still a lot to be deliberated among the Senate to settle the perturbs of the public and achieve the optimal solution. The 2020 national budget reveals much about the government’s concerns and intentions for the nation. If the budget will serve as the steering wheel, then the government will serve as the captain of the ship. It is their primary responsibility to guide the Filipino people toward the destination of progress, which is why it is essential that the people we elect are trustworthy and of good values — something that cannot always be counted on in our elected officials when left unchecked. However, the citizenry is not powerless. Every citizen, as a collective, has the power to alter the course of the ship, if one would only watch the path taken. Thus, it is essential to be vigilant, to be aware of what is happening in the country. Start today, watch the budge of the budget. Our future depends on it.

TC

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford

Photograph by Hannah Muriel Badillo

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Photograph by Hannah Muriel Badillo

“But nothing is solid and permanent. Our lives are raised on the shakiest foundations. You don’t need to read history books to know that. You only have to know the history of your own life.” — Ron Rash

Photograph by Ralf Alexander Lopez