New, unfunded laws to receive funds under 2021 budget — Angara

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sonny Angara on Friday said the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 provides funding for several recently-enacted laws and bills now only awaiting the President’s signature to avoid rendering them “irrelevant” due to lack of funding.

“In our budget deliberations, we went over all of the priorities set by the government and the requirements of the different departments and agencies. We also made sure that our recently-enacted laws would be funded so as not to render them irrelevant,” Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, said in a statement.

Among these legislations include the proposed Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, which seeks to grant full medical scholarships to qualified and deserving students in a bid to produce more doctors in the country to attend to the health needs of Filipinos.

Aside from the scholarship, this measure also contains a provision for the development of medical schools in state universities and colleges, which Angara said is also addressed in the 2021 national budget.

In compliance with the National Integrated Cancer Control Act, which was enacted in 2019, an allocation of P620 million was earmarked under the budget of the Department of Health (DOH) for its cancer assistance fund and for cancer medicines for children, according to Angara.

Meanwhile, a total of P434.5 million was allocated under the budgets of the DOH and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the implementation of the Mental Health Act, he added.

The National Academy of Sports, created by virtue of Republic Act No. 11470, which was enacted in June 2020, will start construction next year with a P729-million funding allocated under the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and P264.6 million under the Department of Education (DepEd) for the other requirements for its establishment, according to Angara.

The DepEd was also provided with P1.365 billion for the increase in the teaching supplies allowance for public school teachers from the present P3,500 to P5,000 in 2021, he said.

This increase is contained in Senate Bill 1092, which seeks to raise this much needed allowance of the teachers over a span of three school years until it reaches P10,000 in 2024.

The Senate has already approved the measure on final reading and has requested the House of Representatives for its concurrence to the said bill, Angara noted.

The proposed 2021 budget also provided P3.225 billion to the Department of Information and Communications Technology for the implementation of the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act, which seeks to further expand and improve the coverage of free Wifi in public places.

According to Angara, some P4.32 billion was lodged in the budget of the Philippine Statistics Authority to “ensure all targets and schedules are met” for implementation of the national ID system

Another P2.5 billion was also included in the unprogrammed appropriations for the same purpose, he said.

Other funding for laws under the proposed 2021 budget include P295 million in the judiciary for the implementation of the Judges-at-Large Act and the creation of the Judicial Marshal Service, which is currently pending in Congress.

To comply with the provisions of the Philippine Innovation Act, Angara said P200 million was included in the budget of the National Economic and Development Authority for the Innovation Fund and as augmentation to the requirements of the National Innovation Council.

For two newly-created agencies—the Philippine Space Agency and the National Commission of Senior Citizens, Angara said Congress gave them P313.717 million and P25 million, respectively.

EDV