REACTION ON 2021 PROPOSED NATIONAL BUDGET

The PHP4.506 Trillion proposed Cash Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 will focus on
containing the spread and mitigating the effects of the virus while restarting the
economy to help the nation RESET, REBOUND and RECOVER from the crisis. It will
sustain and strengthen efforts to bolster the health care system , ensure food security,
invest in physical and digital infrastructure, and provide support and protection for the
most vulnerable and affected sectors of society. The budget should also fund various
adaptations to the so called ‘’NEW NORMAL’’

I agree for the budget regarding to the other departments especially in the budget for
Education, because it is also important in this days that no one should left behind. And I
hope this proposed budget for education can cater all students who are in need. But I
am not agreeing regarding the proposed budget for 2021 for the Department of Health
(DOH), because it ranks only as fifth for the next year in the order of priorities. Our
experience with the covid-19 pandemic should have been a wakeup call to our
economic managers that we should have put more weight on the health needs of our
country. The effect of COVID-19 on the health and livelihoods of the Filipino people is
more severe compared to other nations. While countries around the world are starting to
recover from the pandemic, the Philippines have the most total and new covid -19 cases
and the most deaths per million populations in Asia. COVID-19 stretching the health
system’s capacity and the vaccine for the coronavirus is still far from the peoples reach.
It is only rational and urgent to ensure that resources to further enhance and capacitate
the country’s health system are made available. However, the government is not
prioritizing this.

According to the Alliance of Health Workers, the health programs addressing covid-19
crisis were not being prioritized. They said that the budget is too small and cannot meet
the ‘’health needs of the people and the public health system that is driven by crisis.’’
Government authorities do not value our health workers while they are dedicated to
patient care. Poe questions that why is the funding for the flood control projects of
DPWH bigger than the entire budget of DOH. DOH fund is P131.22 billion but the fund
of DPWH for flood control is at least 150 billion. There are really some legitimate flood
control projects. But there are few flood controls projects that are questionable because
it is hard to keep track of whether they were really done,’’ she added. The health sectors
cannot be fifth among the departments. We are in the middle of a pandemic and it
should be expected that we will be looking at more health-heavy, COVID and a
recession and responsive budget. We need to improve our testing, contract tracing and
our ability to treat. How can we achieve this if we reduced the budget of the DOH? As a
policy we should increase the allocation for the health sector. –Drillon

The 2021 budget does not adequately address the protection of public health. We
should be able to provide confidence to the public that we are indeed able to address
the pandemic. People are afraid to go out today , we can have all kinds of stimulus but
as long as there is no confidence on the part of the public , we will find difficulty
recovering.’’

I can say that we cannot blame government for what we are facing right now. We can
help them by staying inside our houses and follow the safety protocols and rules if we
are going outside. We just need to support our president because I know one day this
pandemic we are facing right now will be gone soon.