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Opinion: Resetting, Rebounding and Recovering the Philippines
Photo Credit: Yel Brusola
Last August, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado submitted the proposed 2021 National Budget. It has an overall allocation of 4.5 trillion pesos, which was 9.9 percent higher than the 2020 National Budget. Two of the largest parts of the pie were 754.4 billion pesos, which is allocated for the education sector as stated by the constitution, then 667.3 billion, which is allotted for infrastructure. In terms of breakdown of budget per sector, the social service sector will get the highest allocation, which accounts for 1.663 trillion pesos, while the defense sector will get the lowest allocation, which is only 210.6 billion pesos.
The early approval of the 2021 National Budget is very important since it serves as the Philippines' “bridge” towards its economic recovery. Economic recovery means lower unemployment, hunger, and poverty rates. Hence the theme of this year’s budget: “Reset, Rebound and Recover: Investing for resiliency and sustainability.”
“Reset” focuses on addressing the needs of the health sector. This includes funds for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines (2.5 billion pesos), for human resources for health (16.6 billion pesos), and for the National Health Insurance Program or PhilHealth (71.4 billion pesos), among others. In other words, the government will provide financial assistance to medical frontliners to ensure the safety and security of every Filipino during the pandemic by upgrading its healthcare facilities and strategies such as improving its contact-tracing methods, increased volume of accommodation of COVID-19 patients in hospitals (in proportion to the number of healthcare workers it has) and the adequate supply of Personal Protective Equipment for medical and social service workers.
"Rebound" focuses on the infrastructure projects. It includes 342.4 billion pesos for the projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways, and 122.7 billion pesos for the Department of Transportation.
Early approval means early economic progress. The earlier it is approved, the earlier the economic recovery of the country may start. As time goes on and the economy is still plummeting, more people will lose their jobs and experience poverty. The government must spend now so that money will continue to circulate and those in the micro, small and medium enterprises in the country will be revived as early as possible.
“Recover” focuses on the “new normal,” or the country’s adjustment to the post-pandemic life. Its primary purpose is to support the livelihood of all Filipinos, ensure their quality of life and strengthen education. Some of its allocations are 2.28 billion pesos for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises in the country, 113.8 billion pesos for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, and 2.20 billion pesos for the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program. Now for those in the labor sector, 6.15 billion pesos is allocated for DOLE-OWWA for the repatriation efforts, 47.12 billion pesos for the Universal Access to Quality Education and 27.99 billion pesos for the financial assistance and subsidies for students, among others.
Even so, ensuring that the 2021 National Budget will be spent properly is a tough problem to solve. Issues of corruption had plagued the Philippines not only in the last few months but even in the past years. However, proper monitoring of the spending of the 2021 National Budget could be the first step. On October 27, President Duterte ordered the Department of Justice to be the main investigator to probe against corruption in the entire government. In the past months, he also advised government agencies to print their purchases in newspapers, where everyone could see.
But monitoring the spending of the 2021 National Budget is not the only way to solve corruption. The government must strengthen its efforts to punish its corrupt officials. It is because even if the 2021 National Budget was passed early, if it will be used in the wrong way, the future plans for the recovery of the Philippines will be forgotten and continue to rot. In other words, the plan of resetting, recovering and rebounding the Philippines would forever stay "a dream.”
It is important to rush the approving of the 2021 National Budget so that the country will not wait for a longer time just to hold on to a lifeline. It is also equally important for the government to take a huge step in combatting corruption, especially during this times when the financial stability of its citizens is almost crucial. //by Kathleen Cortez
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