Sotto, Velasco sign P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021

December 18 ------ Leaders of Congress signed on Thursday the final copy of the P4.5-trillion proposed 2021 national budget. Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco both affixed their signatures on the ratified 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) which will be transmitted to President Duterte for his approval. Sotto told reporters that the bill might be forwarded to Malacañang tonight or on Friday morning, December 18.

Last December 9, both houses of Congress ratified the 2021 GAB, which will finance programs for the country’s COVID-19 response and recovery, along with all government operations. Under the ratified bill, the education sector would get the lion’s share in the P4.5-trillion national budget, with P708,181,173,000 to be distributed to the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, state universities and colleges, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Next is the Department of Public Works and Highways, which is set to receive a total of P694,822,718,000. The health sector – Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, specialty hospitals, among others – has been appropriated with a total of P287,472,698,000. This includes a P2.5-billion fund under the DOH budget for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, and another P70 billion under the unprogrammed appropriations to cover other expenses for its storage and distribution.

Also included in the top 10 recipients of allocations under the GAB are: the Department of Interior and Local Government (P247,506,295,000), Department of the National Defense (P205,471,178,000), Department of Social Welfare and Development (P176,659,841,000), Department of Transportation (P87,445,664,000), Department of Agriculture (P68,622,033,000), the Judicial branch (P44,108,899,000), and the Department of Labor and Employment (P36,606,985,000).

Source: mb.com.ph