SENATOR Joseph Victor G. Ejercito said he may seek to take funds from the budgets of non-performing agencies or those that have failed to spend effectively to provide more funding to the budget of Department of Health (DoH’s) Facilities Enhancement Program.
Asked whether he is looking to realign a portion of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) budget to the Health department, the senator, a vice chairperson of the Senate committee on finance, told reporters on Tuesday: “That’s the proposal of Senator (Senator Panfilo M.) Lacson and Senator (Franklin M.) Drilon but we need to discuss it further. I would prefer to take funding away from agencies with low absorptive capacity.”
The DoH is facing reduced funding in the proposed 2019 budget amounting to P28 billion less than its 2018 allocation of P107 billion. Under the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the DoH was allocated P77 billlion.
Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III has been asking senators to restore at least P16 billion of the department’s budget to cover the construction of health facilities that are already more than 70% complete.
During the Senate budget deliberations last week, Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon proposed that P16 billion worth of lump-sum appropriations meant for assisting local government units may be given to the DoH.
The DILG during the session said it was not the implementing agency that will handle the P16 billion worth of financial assistance to LGUs.
Mr. Ejercito said the Senate committee on finance has yet to discuss the sources of additional funding for the DoH’s building program.
However, he said health facilities should be given budget priority, especially with the impending implementation of the universal health care program next year.
“My concern, as chairman of the Senate committee on health, is that we can make sacrifices elsewhere, but not health facilities because these are proof of good governance, whether local or national,” he said.
Mr. Drilon has said that the additional funding for the DoH will help address the problem of 900 health facilities that lacked equipment for licensing and PhilHealth accreditation.
The Senate has yet to tackle the health department’s budget in its deliberations on the proposed national budget for 2019. It adjourned on Dec. 13 with the GAB still in the interpellation stage. — Camille A. Aguinaldo
