Two militant lawmakers on Thursday pushed for the rechanneling of the budget of the Departments of the Interior and Local Government and National Defense for ammunition, guns, and bombs to the budget for education, health, and other social services.
ACT Teachers Party-list Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro said the P3.757 trillion national budget for 2019 contains a bigger budget for ammunition and bombs compared to the budget for books, classrooms, and learning materials despite the change in the budgeting system.
“We urge the House Leadership to rechannel the overflowing budget allocated for bombs, bullets, and guns under the Department of National Defense to education for books, classroom materials and the construction of new classrooms,” Tinio said.
“We have pointed out in the past budget deliberations and again this year in the debates with the DND and DBM budget that the government continues to prioritize a budget for war instead of a budget that would provide millions of Filipinos with adequate, quality social services. People have been chanting ‘libro hindi bala, classroom hindi bomba’ in the streets because of this budget prioritization of the government,” he added.
Castro, for her part, slammed the Budget department for approving and including budget increases for the salary hike of military and uniformed personnel. This, she said, while civilian employees would have to wait years for DBM to finish conducting their ‘study’ and if approved, would get small amounts given in tranches.
“Teachers, students and other government employees have long clamored for a higher budget for education and an immediate increase in their salaries especially in the onslaught of the TRAIN law with the record high inflation. It is high time that the Duterte administration hear the calls of its people and approve a budget for the people,” Castro said.
During the House appropriations committee hearing on the DND, it was revealed by the DBM through the interpellation of Tinio that there was a ‘Presidential instruction’ to include a total of P3.655-billion additional budget for the Philippine Army and the Philippine Air Force for provision of ammunition, MOOE requirements for capability upgrading, assault rifles, activation of 11 battalions and 1 engineering brigade, precision-guided rockets, among others.
“We ask the DBM, why is it that if the military asks for a budget increase, the DBM is quick to approve their requests while civilian employees and frontline service providers are always faced with a negative response by the DBM?” Tinio asked. ‘‘It is clear that the Duterte administration has a high priority for its militaristic budget. Despite the change in the budgeting system and despite all other agencies receiving enormous budget cuts, the DILG and the DND still received high budget increases,” Castro said.
“We demand that the budget for education, health, and other frontline services increase and items for the war waged against the people be slashed. This 2019 proposed budget is not a budget for the people. It continues to cut the budget for basic social services in the guise of the cash-based system. The budget for education and health have always been lacking and has never been adequate for the needs of the Filipino people while the budget for the military has always been a top priority for the government. It is high time that we change it,” she added.