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Budget for infrastructure towers over health, social protection, MSME support–IBON

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by IBON Media & Communications

Research group IBON hit the Duterte administration for prioritizing transport infrastructure in its proposed 2021 budget over the country’s more pressing needs at the height of the pandemic crisis. The group said resources for health, social protection, and production support are more urgent areas needing attention to genuinely usher the economy to recovery but are only receiving paltry amounts.

The budget for infrastructure in the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) is at Php1.1 trillion, of which only Php2.3 billion or 0.21% would be used to build hospitals and health centers. Such a token allocation for health infrastructure shows how unconcerned government is about the public health emergency that the country is facing and about ensuring affordable health care, IBON said.

The group said that the need for medical facilities and equipment became obvious as the country’s health system was overwhelmed with the swelling number of COVID-19 cases . Yet the government barely increased the share of health facilities in the infrastructure budget from last year, IBON said. Of the Php989.2 billion budget for infrastructure in 2020, only Php1.8 billion or 0.18% was allotted for hospitals and health centers. The allocation for health infrastructure has been dropping significantly under the Duterte administration. In 2017, the infrastructure outlay for hospitals and health centers was Php18.6 billion.

In contrast, IBON said, the infrastructure outlay for road networks is getting much of the funds at Php404 billion or 36% of the 2021 proposed budget for infrastructure. In 2020, road networks were given Php349.8 billion or 35.4% of the Php989.2 billion infrastructure budget.

IBON also noted that the proposed Php1.1 trillion infrastructure budget towers over recommended allocations for health, social protection, and support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The proposed 2021 health budget is only Php212.3 billion. The group observed that while the absolute amount is an increase from the allocation for health in the 2020 GAA, areas important to dealing with the pandemic are defunded in 2021. IBON said that it is ironic that the allotment for facilities enhancement, epidemiological surveillance, laboratories, research, information technology, and human resource capacity management, for instance, were all reduced right when the country’s public health system sorely needs a boost.

IBON also said that government’s questionable bias for infrastructure becomes all the more conspicuous when comparing its budget with social protection budget. The group criticized government’s decreasing the proposed social protection allotment to Php454.1 billion from last year’s Php534.3 billion even as millions of Filipinos are reeling from massive joblessness and collapsing household incomes due to the COVID lockdowns.

The support program for MSMEs decreased by 7.4% in 2021 compared to 2020. Even taking the Agricultural Competitiveness Fund of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Small Business Corporation program under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI together, MSMEs only get Php5.1 billion in the proposed 2021 budget.

IBON added that despite government hype about focusing on the digital economy through improved internet systems, demand for which increased during the pandemic, the budget for communication networks also decreased in 2021. The 2021 infrastructure outlay for Communication Networks is just Php106 million or a 30% decrease from PHp150.8 million in 2020.

From 2017-2021, the bulk of infrastructure projects (Php364 billion) were in the National Capital Region, followed by Region III (Php94.8 billion), the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Php79.5 billion) where Marawi is located, and Region IV-B (Php79.1 billion). In the same period, nationwide infrastructure outlays were at Php659.4 billion, while the Central Office got Php2.9 trillion.

IBON said that the 2021 budget is crucial for the country’s health system and economy to manage and overcome the coronavirus crisis. The government’s fiscal response is the key to improving the economic situation, said the group. Health and social protection even in terms of infrastructure should therefore be prioritized. Instead, said IBON, these are dwarfed by programs such as roadworks and grandiose transport projects that are not as urgent as medical services and socio-economic relief. #

Beyond late night pep talks

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By Renato Reyes, Jr.

The government tries hard to convince us that we are doing fine compared to the rest of the world despite the widespread complaints and sufferings of the people who are under lockdown due to the corona virus disease (Covid-19).

The Philippines has had to resort to extreme quarantine measures precisely because of the failure of the Duterte regime to impose travel restrictions, do proper contact tracing, and recognize in a timely manner the local transmission that had been ongoing in the country. Don’t tell us we are better off. We are in this difficult situation because government downplayed many of the red flags early on. Remember that time when a patient from Greenhills with no travel history was infected with the virus, and health secretary Francisco Duque said that’s not local transmission because it’s just one person?

The people want the spread of the disease to stop through the necessary health measures such as community quarantine, mass testing, isolation and treatment of patients. The expanded quarantine has become necessary to slow down the spread of the disease given that our health system cannot cope with the rise of new cases. Slowing down the spread of the disease entails stopping the movement of people, especially when we do not yet have a clear picture of the extent of the infections. A University of the Philippines study projects that as many as 140,000 to 550,000 can be infected especially in densely populated urban poor communities.

Lifting the quarantine will be done based on two factors according to the DOH: lower number of new cases and the increased capacity of the health system to treat patients (enough hospital beds, respirators, doctors). The lifting may not be done abruptly because of the dangers of the virus infecting more people. This may require calibrated or gradual lifting of quarantine measures or lockdown. Some areas may take more time because they have a high incidence of infections.

What will prolong the lockdown is the failure of the government to implement the necessary health measures to confront the pandemic. What will prolong the lockdown is the failure of government to implement the needed economic support for the people. A hungry populace will not stay put and will break quarantine protocols, and will be more vulnerable to sickness. Kaya talagang mahigpit na magka-ugnay yung health at economics.

And if the lockdown is lifted, we have to fix major issues in the workplace, housing, sanitation, mass transportation, education and so on. We cannot just return to the way things were — with gross inequality and government neglect of social services laying the basis for more infections. The first thing we will be demanding after the lockdown is lifted is CHANGE. We do not want to go back to the way things were.

Those telling us we are doing fine are the ones that got us into this dire situation in the first place. They best heed the growing demands of the people and undertake the needed health and economic measures, else we will be looking at a longer lockdown period and more suffering and unrest among the population. Kaya na lang ganoon kadiin ang protesta at pagpapahayag sa gobyerno. Ayaw nating dumami ang tatamaan ng sakit, at ayaw nating humaba pa ang pagdurusa ng mamamayan. #

#TulongHindiKulong
#MassTestingNowPH
#IbigayAngAyuda

(The author is the secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.)

2020 national budget, hiniling na i-sentro sa serbisyo at kabuhayan

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Hiniling ng iba’t-ibang grupo na ilaan sa serbisyong panlipunan at pang-matagalang kabuhayan ang nakasalang na pambansang badyet ng pamahalaan sa susunod na taong 2020.

Sa isang press conference noong Martes, 26 Nobyembre, isiniwalat nila na ang maling paggamit ng pondo ng bayan tulad ng kontrobersyal na hosting ng Southeast Asian Games at maging ang “Build Build Build” program ng administrasyong Rodrigo Duterte na anila’y para lamang sa madalian at di permanenteng ganansiya.

Sa halip, ayon sa mga grupo, ay dapat dagdagan ang badyet para sa edukasyon, kalusugan, agrikultura, at iba pa. (Bidyo ni Jek Alcaraz/Kodao)

‘Trabaho, serbisyo, paninirahan’

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“Kaming mga maralita, ang panawagan namin ay trabaho na may sapat na sahod, gayundin ang serbisyong panlipunan—lalong-lalo na ang disenteng paninirahan.”—Bea Arellano, Chairperson, Kadamay

Kadamay: Unjust policies force poor to occupy housing sites

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Urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) marched to Mendiola yesterday to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to a dialogue in order for them to show proof that hundreds of housing units are unoccupied in Bulacan Province.

Instead of distributing government housing units to poor beneficiaries, the National Housing Authority only choose families who can pay exorbitant rates, Kadamay said.

Hundreds of Kadamay members occupied several housing projects in Bulacan last week, a move aimed at bringing the issue to Duterte’ attention, the group said. (Video by Divine Miranda/Featured photo by Romie Malonzo) Read more