President Rodrigo Duterte hopes the proposed P4.506 trillion 2021 national government budget that Malacanang sent to the House of Representatives last week will fund the country’s recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
“My task and yours at this moment of our history is to get us back on the road,” the President said in his budget message to the Congress.
In the House, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday said the submission of the proposed national government budget for 2021 to the House of Representatives had prompted the chamber to set aside discussions on all pending measures to focus on the deliberations on the money measure.
The proposed 2021 proposed budget is 9.9 percent higher than the P4.1 trillion spending plan for this year and is aimed at boosting the government’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, Duterte said.
“Now more than ever, the government must assert its role in responding to the threats of this virus and its fallout if it is to make the nation and its economy stronger and more agile,” he added.
The economy went on a tailspin as lockdowns were imposed to control the spread of the virus. As of July, the country was officially into a recession, for the first time in more than 30 years, due to the lockdowns.
The government’s “Build, Build, Build” program implemented by various agencies like the Departments of Public Works and Highways and of Transportation was given a P1.107 trillion allocation. The program is expected to generate at least 200,000 jobs.
The lockdowns left an estimated five million workers jobless.
Some P212.4 billion was allocated to upgrade the healthcare system.
The agriculture sector was alloted P117.8 to enable it to modernize food production and ensure security.
Support for the micro-, small-, and medium-enterprises that were worst hit by the lockdowns was set at P2.3 billion.
“We will have to reset our policies, rethink the way we govern under this new phenomenon that is changing the conduct of daily life, rebound and recover from this pandemic and bring the whole country and our people with us,” Duterte said.
The measures shelved included discussions on constitutional amendments for the rest of the year.
“For me, we can tackle Cha-Cha (Charter change) once the problem with the (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic is over,” Cayetano said.
The shelving of the Cha-cha measure as well as other controversial issues is a reaffirmation of the House’s commitment to focus on the 2021 national budget, Cayetano said.
“The timing is bad. How can we hold a plebiscite where people have to line up while COVID-19 is still with us? We also have to take into consideration the (2022) campaign period,” he added.
Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite supported Cayetano’s pronouncement.
Barzaga said the chamber had to focus on the budget bill as well other measures necessary that would address the pandemic.
“Charter change deliberations should take the backseat in this time of pandemic as the legislature needs all the time it can muster to craft laws that will address the problems caused by Covid 19,” Barzaga, chairman of the House committee on natural resources, said.
The House constitutional amendments committee chairman, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez earlier confirmed that there will be “no more discussions on Cha-Cha this year.”
“The committee, following the Speaker’s suggestion, will meet in January or February next year. We have to concentrate on the measures against COVID-19,” Rodriguez said.
Cayetano said the 18th Congress needed to be proactive and focused if it must come up with an inclusive budget that will address the nation’s problems.
“Some people want to do a people’s initiative. We agree that we need to discuss Charter change, but we want it to be inclusive in the same way that the budget will be inclusive,” he added.
In an earlier interview, Cayetano said passing the national budget was “the bigger sign of unity.”
“During this time of crisis, it’s important for us to talk about how our kababayan will survive, but as House of the People, it’s more important for us to discuss how our constituents will face the post-pandemic world. Will they have food on their table? Will they have jobs to return to? Will they still have homes after the pandemic? These are the problems we wish to address when we start our budget hearings next week,” he said.
Cayetano said the House aimed to have the 2021 national budget signed in record time.
“We are aiming for mid- or late November so that we can give solutions to the problems of our countrymen. If after the budget hearings the pandemic is over, then we can discuss Cha-Cha,” he said.
Saying the House will remain transparent in its budget deliberations, he encouraged the public to participate through social media, especially Facebook, and email or by reaching out to the government.
“We will work together diligently with the Senate, our counterparts, with all the sectors, and with the Executive to come up with a very, very good budget in 2021,” he said.