House leader vows transparent deliberation of 2021 nat’l budget

Romualdez said the proposed 2021 national budget, with the theme “Reset, Rebound, and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability”, would also undergo thorough scrutiny in the lower chamber. (File Photo: Martin Romualdez/Facebook)

MANILA – House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Thursday said the deliberations of the proposed PHP4.506-trillion national budget for 2021 will be transparent despite the virtual hearings amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Romualdez said the proposed 2021 national budget, with the theme “Reset, Rebound, and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability”, would also undergo thorough scrutiny in the lower chamber.

“We will go through the very transparent process of budget deliberations to fully discuss its merits and main objective to serve the people. We are going to scrutinize the national budget and do our jobs properly,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez said lawmakers will guarantee the effective utilization and honest spending of the national budget that will result in “real benefits of the people in this time of Covid-19 pandemic”, considering that the social and economic services will get the biggest chunk in next year’s appropriations.

Romualdez said the House will ensure the timely passage of the measure.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said the House is aiming to approve the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act by end of September, and have it signed by President Rodrigo Duterte by November.

“We will try to finish the budget before the end of September. [It’s a] very ambitious schedule, to send it right away to the Senate because we hope for the first time, if I’m not mistaken, in history, we can sign the budget maybe late November or mid-November as a sign of unity by our country,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano also assured transparency during the budget deliberations, stressing that all the members of the opposition will be given ample time to ask their questions directly to the agencies.

Cayetano issued a “fair warning” to the departments that have made it difficult for constituents especially during the Covid-19 lockdown, and reiterated the President’s warning that this administration does not tolerate corruption and inefficiency in the performance of their duties and the use of government funds.

“If we find out that you’re offline, if we find out na hindi kayo maabot nung constituents, delayed sa inyo, nag-online nga kayo, hindi naman makarating, nagla-lockdown kayo nang napakatagal, na-delay ‘yung inyong mga serbisyo (that your constituents cannot reach you, that things get delayed on your end, that your services do not reach the people even if you’re already online, and that you go on lockdown for an extended period), don’t expect a smooth budget hearing or a good budget next year,” Cayetano said.

The proposed 2021 national budget is 9.9 percent higher than the PHP4.1-trillion appropriations for 2020 and equivalent to 21.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The bulk of next year’s proposed budget will be provided to the social services sector amounting to PHP1.664 trillion, equivalent to 36.9 percent. This includes funding support for programs related to health, social protection, and education.

The economic services sector will receive the second highest allocation with PHP1.347 trillion or 29.9 percent of the proposed budget.

Meanwhile, the General Public Services sector will be allocated with PHP724.2 billion, Debt Burden with PHP560.2 billion, and Defense with PHP210.6 billion.

The Department of Education (DepEd), including state universities and colleges, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, remains the top agency with the biggest slice from the proposed budget with an allocation of PHP754.4 billion.

This is followed by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with a proposed budget of PHP667.3 billion, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with PHP246.1 billion, the Department of National Defense(DND) with PHP209.1 billion, the Department of Health (DOH) with PHP203.1 billion, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with PHP171.2 billion, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) with PHP143.6 billion, the Department of Agriculture with PHP66.4 billion, the Judiciary with PHP43.5 billion, and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) with PHP27.5 billion.