Senate panel amendments in 2022 budget still focused on COVID-19 response

PEDIATRIC VACCINATION Children ages 12 to 17 years old from the city of San Juan received their first dose of Pfizer vaccines at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City on November 3, 2021.
INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Many of the amendments made by the Senate finance panel to the P5-trillion budget for 2022 submitted by the executive are focused on boosting the government’s pandemic response, including the benefits of health frontliners, “booster vaccines” as well as assistance to affected sectors.

This was according to finance committee chairman Senator Sonny Angara, who said his panel is now finalizing the committee report on the budget as plenary deliberations are set to begin this week.

“Many of the committee report amendments are still about our [COVID-19] response and health-related interventions: salaries benefits and allowances of health workers; added funds for booster vaccines, testing, tracing; improving health facilities; funding of medical scholarship law,” Angara said in a message to reporters Monday.

“[E]ven the recommendations of our vice-chairpersons for the departments they handle are to learn to cope or live with the virus: help to affected sectors; helping our school system adjust to the resumption of face to face classes, among others,” he added.

The Senate has been on break since October 1 and will resume sessions on Monday, Nov. 8.

The committee report on the proposed 2022 General Appropriations Act is expected to be sponsored on the Senate floor Tuesday.

“We cannot overemphasize the importance of the budget for 2022, because it will be the first for the new administration as it faces humongous problems – including the heavy task of leading the nation to recover from the effects of the pandemic,” Senator Panfilo Lacson, for his part, said in a  statement.

EDV