Research\ngroup IBON hit the Duterte administration for prioritizing transport\ninfrastructure in its proposed 2021 budget over the country\u2019s more\npressing needs at the height of the pandemic crisis. The group said\nresources for health, social protection, and production support are\nmore urgent areas needing attention to genuinely usher the economy to\nrecovery but are only receiving paltry amounts. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbudget for infrastructure in the proposed 2021 General Appropriations\nAct (GAA) is at Php1.1 trillion, of which only Php2.3 billion or\n0.21% would be used to build hospitals and health centers. Such a\ntoken allocation for health infrastructure shows how unconcerned\ngovernment is about the public health emergency that the country is\nfacing and about ensuring affordable health care, IBON said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ngroup said that the need for medical facilities and equipment became\nobvious as the country\u2019s health system was overwhelmed with the\nswelling number of COVID-19 cases . Yet the government barely\nincreased the share of health facilities in the infrastructure budget\nfrom last year, IBON said. Of the Php989.2 billion budget for\ninfrastructure in 2020, only Php1.8 billion or 0.18% was allotted for\nhospitals and health centers. The allocation for health\ninfrastructure has been dropping significantly under the Duterte\nadministration. In 2017, the infrastructure outlay for hospitals and\nhealth centers was Php18.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\ncontrast, IBON said, the infrastructure outlay for road networks is\ngetting much of the funds at Php404 billion or 36% of the 2021\nproposed budget for infrastructure. In 2020, road networks were given\nPhp349.8 billion or 35.4% of the Php989.2 billion infrastructure\nbudget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON\nalso noted that the proposed Php1.1 trillion infrastructure budget\ntowers over recommended allocations for health, social protection,\nand support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nproposed 2021 health budget is only Php212.3 billion. The group\nobserved that while the absolute amount is an increase from the\nallocation for health in the 2020 GAA, areas important to dealing\nwith the pandemic are defunded in 2021. IBON said that it is ironic\nthat the allotment for facilities enhancement, epidemiological\nsurveillance, laboratories, research, information technology, and\nhuman resource capacity management, for instance, were all reduced\nright when the country\u2019s public health system sorely needs a boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON\nalso said that government\u2019s questionable bias for infrastructure\nbecomes all the more conspicuous when comparing its budget with\nsocial protection budget. The group criticized government\u2019s\ndecreasing the proposed social protection allotment to Php454.1\nbillion from last year\u2019s Php534.3 billion even as millions of\nFilipinos are reeling from massive joblessness and collapsing\nhousehold incomes due to the COVID lockdowns. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nsupport program for MSMEs decreased by 7.4% in 2021 compared to 2020.\nEven taking the Agricultural Competitiveness Fund of the Department\nof Agriculture (DA) and the Small Business Corporation program under\nthe Department of Trade and Industry (DTI together, MSMEs only get\nPhp5.1 billion in the proposed 2021 budget. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON\nadded that despite government hype about focusing on the digital\neconomy through improved internet systems, demand for which increased\nduring the pandemic, the budget for communication networks also\ndecreased in 2021. The 2021 infrastructure outlay for Communication\nNetworks is just Php106 million or a 30% decrease from PHp150.8\nmillion in 2020. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From\n2017-2021, the bulk of infrastructure projects (Php364 billion) were\nin the National Capital Region, followed by Region III (Php94.8\nbillion), the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Php79.5 billion)\nwhere Marawi is located, and Region IV-B (Php79.1 billion). In the\nsame period, nationwide infrastructure outlays were at Php659.4\nbillion, while the Central Office got Php2.9 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON\nsaid that the 2021 budget is crucial for the country\u2019s health\nsystem and economy to manage and overcome the coronavirus crisis. The\ngovernment\u2019s fiscal response is the key to improving the economic\nsituation, said the group. Health and social protection even in terms\nof infrastructure should therefore be prioritized. Instead, said\nIBON, these are dwarfed by programs such as roadworks and grandiose\ntransport projects that are not as urgent as medical services and\nsocio-economic relief.###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEWS<\/p>\n
Health and social protection even in terms of infrastructure should be prioritized but these are dwarfed by programs such as roadworks and grandiose transport projects that are not as urgent.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,14],"tags":[2323,2218,347,2153,2040,574,2345,1259],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10241"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10246,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions\/10246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}