Proposed cut in 2021 DA budget raises alarm

Lawmakers on Friday expressed alarm over the looming reduction in the budget for the country’s agricultural sector as proposed in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Magsasaka Rep. Argel Joseph Cabatbat said the proposed P66.4-billion budget for the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the 2021 NEP would not meet the President’s call in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) for the government to boost the country’s agricultural industry in the remaining years of his administration.

“I call on my colleagues in the House and the entire administration to give the agriculture sector a higher allocation; any decrease in funding will only add to the sufferings of our people, many of whom are already reeling from loss of livelihood,” he said.

Cabatbat made the call after having scanned the 2021 NEP, which was received by the House of Representatives from the executive department on Tuesday.

He said the NEP should not have reduced the budget for the agriculture sector in the midst of an economic recession, massive job losses and millions of Filipinos suffering from hunger.

Last month, the DA asked for P284.4 billion as its budget for 2021, in a supposed bid to help the sector recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawmaker expressed alarm that instead of the DA getting a higher funding, the P66.4-billion proposed budget is even lower than its 2020 budget of P79.9 billion.

‘Plant, Plant, Plant’

“The decreased budget will cause tremendous sufferings, not only among our farmers, but also among our people, whose main aim at these times is to have food on the table, if only they get ample support from the government,” Cabatbat said.

He reiterated President Duterte’s call in his fifth Sona in July: the government needs to focus on the country’s food security, in order to ensure sufficient, accessible and affordable food for every Filipino, and help the country rebound from the impact of COVID-19.

“It was President Duterte himself who said that the government should push the ‘Plant, Plant, Plant’ program, rather than infrastructure projects under the ‘Build, Build, Build,’” he said.

Under the 2021 NEP, Congress is being asked to earmark P1.107 trillion for the “Build, Build, Build.”

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also scored the “meager” funding for health and other social services, while pouring at least P1 trillion for infrastructure.