CEBU CITY – Cebuano Rep. Duke Frasco (5th District) is pushing for the passage of next year’s national budget that will tackle the country’s Covid-19 response, saying the paramount objective is to pass the most responsive and comprehensive budget to answer the medical needs of the Filipinos.
He
said the 2022 national budget should “allow our countrymen the full measure of
enjoyment of the right to life and the right to good health, while affording
them the security, stability, and protection of a highly functional healthcare
system.”
“By
placing the people’s needs and well-being, front and center of the government’s
health expenditure, we also afford them the best chance to recover from the
challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and to move forward with good health and
hope,” Frasco said.
In
preparation for the passage of the General Appropriations Act of 2022, Frasco
presided over the House of Representatives budget hearing which placed the
Department of Health's (DOH) budget under close scrutiny.
Frasco,
who sits as vice chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, set the tone for
the budget hearing by expressing profound gratitude to the medical frontliners
“who have served our people tirelessly and have bravely been at the frontlines
of our continuing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He
said Health Sec. Francisco Duque presented the DOH’s budget request to cover
the healthcare workers’ Special Risk Allowance, hazard pay, and allowances for
meals, accommodations, and transportation which the Department of Budget and
Management excluded from the proposed DOH budget.
For
2022, the DOH has a proposed budget of P242.22 billion of which P157.03 billion
would go to Duque’s office. The DOH budget includes funding for other attached
agencies like the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation which would get
P79.99 billion or 33 percent of the total budget. (John Rey Saavedra)
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