THE proposed budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) next year has been slashed by P800 million at the Senate.
Senate President Franklin Drilon took note of the cut during plenary debates on the proposed budget of DOTC on Tuesday.
From P43.4 billion as approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate committee on finance being chaired by Senator Loren Legarda presented on the floor a lower budget for the DOTC with only P42.6 billion.
“The chair notes that the budget of the DOTC was reduced by P800 million? May we know which agencies , budgets were augmented by the reduction of the budget of the DOTC?” Drilon asked Legarda, who was defending the agency’s budget.
Legarda explained that the P1 billion quick response fund (DRF) of the DOTC was not utilized in 2014 and in 2015 so they decided to put the budget in agencies that are in the frontline in times of disasters.
“We therefore left a portion and this is upon the agreement of the Secretary,” she said, referring to DOTC Secretary Joseph Abaya , who was also at the plenary.
Legarda said they allocated the fund to the Department of Agriculture, which received P100 million, P250 million to the Department of Health, another P250 million to the Department of National Defense, P100 million each to the Bureau of Fire and the Philippine National Police, and P75 million to the Philippine Coast Guard.
“I wish I could give more for the Coast Guard. In fact, I’m contemplating where to cut to give more to the Coast Guard because we are a maritime nation and in times of disasters, we need to empower the Coast Guard so they can respond quickly,” she further said.