TACLOBAN CITY – A civil society group had urged the government to use and manage its funds carefully to ensure that all basic sectors of society is provided with appropriate fund intended for delivery of basic services.
Cagayan Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. (right) , assisted by Mayor Remedios Petilla of Palo, Leyte, cuts the ceremonial ribbon during the inauguration of the new outpatient department (OPD) building of the Leyte Provincial Hospital. LITO ABALA BAGUNAS
“Education and health sectors are among those needs bigger budget but sad to say these two sectors also suffers from budget cut that the government had implemented this year,” according to Ana Malindog, executive director of People Partner for Development and Democracy.
Of the two, the education sector suffers the biggest budget cut particularly the state universities and colleges, according to Malindog.
In the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2012, 50 schools (SUCs) will have their total budget slashed by a combined P569.8 million, 45 will have cuts in their Maintenance and Operating Expenses (MOOE) funds by P250.9 million, while 58 will have cuts in Personal Services (PS) by P403.3 million.
While there is an increase on proposed P42.693billion health budget for 2012 from this year’s P32.427 billion, the increase is considered inadequate considering the steady inflation, increase in the prices of medicines and medical equipment.
The bigger portion of the increase of P12.5 billion is allotted to PhilHealth (P8.5 billion more from its 2011 budget) and another P3 billion is allotted for government equity for Public-Private Partnership in 25 regional hospitals.
The proposed 2012 health budget is a far cry from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 5% of gross national product (GNP) that should be allotted for health, which is around P440 billion.
Reason why the government is implementing a budget cut is they focus more on debt servicing, according to Malindog.
“The priority right now of the Philippine government is on debt servicing, we have to ask, is it really necessary or is it important at this moment to pay our debt?,” asked Malindog.
Aside from debt serving, Malindog added that the government is also focusing on modernization of the Armed Forces.
“Is there really a war to fight, for us to modernize the military? Malindog asked.
To recall, the President had ordered to provide P10 billion fund for the modernization of the Armed Forces which would be sourced from appropriations of the 2010 and 2011 national budget at P5 billion each.
From the P5 billion fund from 2010, the AFP plans to equip the Philippine Army with armored personnel carriers and radios while the Philippine Navy intends to procure a sea-lift vessel, and the Philippine Air Force targets to acquire one special mission aircraft and two lift aircraft amounting to P1.6 billion.
The remaining P5 billion in the 2011 appropriations is intended to fund civil military operations, health services and disaster response activities.
This includes acquiring 32 five-ton dump trucks and 55 special-purpose vehicles for the Army; two search-and-rescue helicopters; and 30 special-purpose vehicles and 15 amphibian vehicles for the Navy.
Aside from the two focus of the government, Malindog added that another lapse of the government in appropriating budget is by funding projects that are not carefully studied, just like the implementation of conditional cash transfer program.
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