{"id":253214,"date":"2020-04-26T06:54:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T10:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253214"},"modified":"2020-04-26T06:54:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T10:54:21","slug":"covid-19-response-priority-in-proposed-2021-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/26\/covid-19-response-priority-in-proposed-2021-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 response priority in proposed 2021 budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque during a press briefing in Malaca\u00f1ang on July 19, 2018. TOTO LOZANO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Duterte administration\u2019s proposed 2021 budget will prioritize the country\u2019s response to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In an interview over DZBB, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Executive Department will be submitting a \u201cdifferent\u201d type of budget proposal this coming July, the same month Duterte is expected to deliver his fifth state of the nation address (SONA).<\/p>\n

\u201cYung darating na<\/em>\u00a0budget for 2021\u00a0na isusumite natin sa mga buwang Hulyo, ibang iba po ang hitsura niyan no. Siyempre po ang buong<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0nakatutok din sa<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19\u00a0habang wala ngang tayong bakuna<\/em>\u00a0(The upcoming budget for 2021 that will be submitted in the month of July, it will look very different. The whole budget will focus on Covid-19 while we don\u2019t have a vaccine yet),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said there will be some government projects that will have to be set aside to give more importance to the needs of Filipinos.<\/p>\n

He, however, assured that the government has enough funds to sustain the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and other cash assistance programs, thanks to the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act of 2020 or Republic Act 11469.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa susunod na buwan ay wala po tayong problema,<\/em>\u00a0covered\u00a0po tayo ng<\/em>\u00a0Bayanihan Act.\u00a0Pero<\/em>\u00a0beyond that\u00a0po ay titingnan natin kung ano pang mga pangangailangan<\/em>\u00a0(Next month, we have no problem. We\u2019re covered by the Bayanihan Act. But beyond that, we have to see what else we need),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Bayanihan Act gives Duterte special powers in handling the current health crisis, including realigning funds in the 2020 national budget.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s powers are valid until June 26, unless extended by Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeron din pong otoridad na binigay ang Kongreso sa ating Presidente mag realign ng budget,<\/em>\u00a0so\u00a0meron po talagang mga<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0na proyekto na di na mapapatupad para po mapunta sa<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19 (The Congress has also given the President authority to realign the budget so there are really projects that will be discontinued so that the funds can be used for Covid-19),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although there is enough budget for the next few months, Roque said the Executive Department should also have medium-term solutions for the health crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cPero ang solusyon po na<\/em>\u00a0medium-term\u00a0siyempre ay yung<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0(But the medium-term solution of course is the 2021 budget) 2021 will be the first Covid-19 budget ng ating gobyerno (of our government),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng hihingin siguro ng gobyerno ay yung para sa<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0matapos itong<\/em>\u00a0ECQ\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0GCQ\u00a0ano dahil ang talagang<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0naman na ibinigay sa atin ay mahigit kumulang dalawang buwan<\/em>\u00a0(What the government will be asking for is budget after the enhanced community quarantine and general community quarantine because the budget they have given will last for at least two months),\u201d he said.
\nSupplemental budget<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, bared that Budget Secretary Wendal Avisado has already prepared a draft of the supplemental budget to augment the government\u2019s resources for Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeron na pong<\/em>\u00a0preliminary figures at alam na more or less\u00a0kung ano yung mga<\/em>\u00a0preliminary figures\u00a0na kakailanganin sa<\/em>\u00a0immediate, future,\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0medium-term\u00a0at saka sa pantaunang<\/em>\u00a0budget\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a02021 (There are preliminary figures and we know more or less what are the preliminary figures that we need in the immediate future for the middle-term and the annual budget for 2021),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last Friday (April 24), Duterte said he might ask Congress to approve a supplemental budget to augment the government\u2019s depleting resources for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Congress, under the Bayanihan Act, has granted Duterte special powers to tap some PHP275 billion in unused government funds to stop the further transmission of Covid-19 in the country.<\/p>\n

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the national government has already spent PHP352.7 billion to address Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The Senate and the House are Representatives will resume session on May 4.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Duterte administration\u2019s proposed 2021 budget will prioritize the country\u2019s response to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, Malaca\u00f1ang said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":173623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253216,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253214\/revisions\/253216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}