Bangsamoro gov’t to spend P75B in 2021

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— The interim Bangsamoro government is targeting spend some P75 billion for 2021, a third of which will be used for education programs and measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic, based on a spending program proposed by Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim.

Ebrahim presented the proposed budget before the parliament on Thursday, which is P10 billion more than the P65 billion budget for 2020.

The regional government’s main source of funds is the block grant from the national government, equivalent to 5 percent of the country’s internal revenue collections.

“What makes this financial program distinct from last year is the inclusion of efforts toward the public health crisis and other significant initiatives that were not part of last year’s fiscal design,” Ebrahim said.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Ebrahim said the Bangsamoro government would continue to be focused on health, education and social services, as spelled out in the Bangsamoro Organic Law during the transition period.

Education tops the priority of the 2021 budget, taking up P23.4 billion or 31.2 percent of the total budget.

Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal earlier said the postconflict period was the best time to spruce up the region’s human resource development efforts through education, as there was “no real education in a situation of conflict and violence.”

Teachers in the region will be provided P5,000 extra allowance, similar to the so-called chalk allowance for teachers in the rest of the country, although only for P3,500. Each of them will have P10,000 for professional trainings.

By 2021, the education ministry will hire Muslim teachers, called Asatidz, to become part of the regional education workforce.

The education budget will also fund scholarship of some 2,000 youth who come from families affected by the armed conflict, and the building of schools, including in the communities of Cotabato province which voted to join the Bangsamoro region during last year’s plebiscite.

Health care

Health care accounts for 6.8 percent of the proposed 2021 spending, or P5.1 billion.

This will mainly go to the building of additional health stations in 173 villages and 27 municipalities.

The regional government also plans to provide additional allowance to barangay health workers and supply subsidies for village- and town-based health stations.

Next year, the regional government will provide additional ambulance and subsidy for hospitals supervised by the health ministry, and hire more personnel for isolation centers of COVID-19 patients to aid the local government’s battle against the virus.

Further, the health ministry will have funds for 25 medicine scholars and 50 allied health-related courses.