A 2021 budget to fund nat’l recovery budget

WE end this year on a note of uncertainty with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic which re­mains uncontained worldwide one year since it emerged as a new and unidentified illness in Wuhan, China.

It remains a major threat to many nations around the world, notably the United States and now the United Kingdom where a new variant of the virus has emerged. But while it remains a threat in our country, it has not claimed as many victims, for which we must be grateful for the early action of the na­tional government to order a lockdown in Metro Manila and Luzon and its continuing re­strictions on mass gatherings.

In the coming year, the pan­demic will remain a major prob­lem for the country. To keep it under control and ultimately end its threat, the Philippines has now set aside P72 billion in the National Budget for 2021 for the purchase, storage, trans­portation, and distribution of COVID vaccines.

The budget for the Depart­ment of Health for 2021 is P210.2 billion, 19.6 percent higher than the 2020 allocation. A great deal of this will go to the main­tenance of hospitals and other healthcare services many of which are now filled with COVID-19 patients.

In line with the Constitution, the Department of Education continues to have the largest funding among the govern­ment departments in the 2021 national budget, with P751.7 billion, followed by the De­partment of Public Works and Highways, P695.7 billion; the Department of Interior and Local Government, P249.3 bil­lion; Department of Health, P210.3 billion; Department of National Defense, P205.8 billion; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P176.9 billion; Department of Transportation, P87.9 billion; Department of Agriculture, P71 billion; the Judi­ciary, P45.3 billion; and Depart­ment of Labor and Employment, P37.1 billion.

But while the country contin­ues to battle the pandemic, it looks forward to recovery from a year of setbacks in so many areas of the national life. In 2021, the national government will thus step up its infrastruc­ture program of Build, Build, Build, which will also create new livelihood opportunities.

The 2021 national budget car­ries the theme “Reset, Rebound, and Recover,” Secretary Wendel Avisado of the Department of Budget and Management said. Government operations will gradually resume in this coming year but with a definite stress on the infrastructure program which will not just build roads and bridges and government buildings, but will also provide jobs for the many who have lost their livelihood in the pan­demic.

The national effort to end the pandemic will continue in our hospitals, our airports and seaports, in markets and other public places, and in remote communities. both rural and urban, where people tend to ignore government restrictions on their everyday activities.

But along with this continu­ing health program, we will begin an economic program of recovery with programs funded by the 2021 General Appro­priations Act which President Duterte signed into law last Monday.