Hontiveros wants additional budget for rebuilding COVID-19 facilities in typhoon-hit areas

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros is pushing for the adoption of the P28.5-million additional fund for the immediate rebuilding of COVID-19 testing and isolation facilities in the bicameral conference committee on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for next year.

Hontiveros said she introduced the said amount when the Senate approved the budget bill last Thursday so that there would be additional funding for the rebuilding of COVID-19 facilities in areas hit by recent typhoons.

She added that these facilities remain crucial to the country’s COVID-19 response.

“Testing and isolation are two of the most important steps in our fight against COVID-19. Any delay in the restoration of these facilities could be a major setback in our progress. The additional budget means there should be no excuses for inaction,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“Wag nating hayaan maging COVID-19 hotspots ang mga lugar na hirap din makabangon sa mga dumaang bagyo,” she added.

(Let’s not let these areas that are finding a hard time to recover from previous typhoons to also become COVID-19 hotspots.)

Hontiveros also emphasized the possibility of rapid and undetected transmission of COVID-19 if the areas affected by the typhoons will continue to not have functioning quarantine facilities and active testing sites.

“Lalo na nagsisiksikan ang mga tao sa evacuation centers, napakadelikado nito,” she noted.

(Especially since evacuation centers are crowded, the situation is really dangerous.)

The senator also said that the decrease in COVID-19 cases in typhoon-hit areas as shown by the DOH tracker “is an indicator of incomplete reporting.”

“Bumababa lang ang reported cases sa typhoon-hit areas dahil bulag tayo pag wala o kulang ang testing centers. Doble doble talaga ang laban sa mga lugar na ito,” Hontiveros said.

(Reported cases only decrease in typhoon-hit areas because we are blind when we lack testing centers. The battle is twice as hard in these areas.)

“Many of these areas remain devastated, and up to now are still experiencing hard rainfall. Lahat na ang nawala sa kanila. Protektahan natin sila sa pandemyang ito (They have lost everything. Let us protect them from this pandemic),” she concluded.

Information from Hontiveros’ office showed that the current DOH budget under the Senate version of the budget bill stands at P139.1 billion.

The Senate approved on third and final reading the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 on Thursday. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1365086/senate-approves-p4-5-trillion-2021-national-budget

House Committee on Appropriations chair Rep. Eric Yap said the bicameral conference committee for the 2021 budget bill will convene this Tuesday to reconcile the Senate and the House’s versions of the measure. Zac Sarao, INQUIRER.net trainee

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