The passage of the P4.5-billion budget for 2021, seen to drive the country’s pandemic response and recovery efforts, is the biggest accomplishment of the Senate “especially now that we are in a health crisis,” said the senators.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the 2021 budget was the allocation for the country to face and cope up with the pandemic. He said the next year’s national budget assured funding for COVID-19 pandemic and assistance.
“Its priority is not just our health workers but about 70 percent of our people. They should be prioritized,” said Sotto.
“They should be given help by the government. This is about the immunization program. And we’re not asking them to pay to have this immunization (against Covid-19),” Sotto added.
As the 18th Congress adjourned for the Christmas break, Sotto said he was satisfied with their accomplishments.
Senate Finance committee chairperson Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said there was only one major macroeconomic assumption that underpinned next year’s expenditures and that was COVID-19.
“It will dictate the thrust and content of the 2021 budget. It is through this prism that we will view the budget.”
“As all funds to fight the pandemic will emanate from this spending bill, then it should be a fighting budget not a business-as-usual one,” Angara added.
In a nutshell, Angara noted this budget would help the sick, the health system and the economy recover.
Angara said Congress had alloted P72.5 billion for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, which the government targets to administer to the general population by the second quarter of 2021.
Of this amount, P2.5 billion had been lodged under the Department of Health, while P70 billion was under unprogrammed appropriations, dependent upon the availability of government revenues next year.
The proposed appropriations for COVID-19 vaccines is on top of the P10 billion that the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act has already allotted for it. This puts the country’s total budget for the COVID-19 immunization program at P82.5 billion in 2021.
The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the subsequent Bayanihan To Recover As One Act were among the most important Senate bills enacted by senators.
“And I think, one thing sums it up or one story would sum it up, is when those uncertain days in March, when the country was looking for leadership amidst the uncertainty engendered by the lockdown, I remember the Senate President pulling us all in the lounge and saying ‘we have to pass some kind of stimulus because people are out of jobs,” he said.
Angara also recalled Sotto telling them then about its importance, which led to the swift passage of the Bayanihan 1 Law, helped along by the steady chairmanship of Senator Pia Cayetano,” disclosed Angara.
The Senate had enacted into law 14 out of the almost 2,000 bills or 1,957 filed since the 18th Congress opened in July 2019.
Based on the Senate Statistical Report, 1,580 bills were passed during the 1st regular session, 7 in the 1st special session and 370 in the 2nd regular session.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, commended the advancement of legislation and programs to uplift Filipino families in the Senate throughout 2020, despite the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“Major progress was made in the Senate in relation to proposed measures not only to protect women and children but also helping the vulnerable sectors and Filipino families better deal with the ongoing health and economic crisis brought about by the pandemic,” she said.
One of these measures is the “Girls, not Brides Act of 2019,” which she authored and sponsored.
The bill, passed on this and final reading at the Senate, aims to better protect minors — especially young girls — from rampant sexual abuse and exploitation by clamping down on child marriages.
She also said that for this year, the budget, which she described as was once ‘anemic’, has now been boosted. The health purse is now at the top three agencies receiving the highest budget allocation, following her interventions in the 2021 General Appropriations Act .
Her proposals included P500M for cancer council, P133M to tuberculosis control and P89M for programs treating non-communicable diseases.
Following complaints of the cancellation of the free dialysis program of the Philippines Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth), Hontiveros stepped up for dialysis patients against the directive.
This led to the resumption of the service, expanding free sessions from 90 to 144.
Among the bills enacted into law by the senators from July 22, 2019 to December 16, 2020 are the Malasakit Centers Act, Postponement of the Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan elections, the Anti-Terrorism Act; GMRC and Values Education Act,Malasakit Centers Act,Salary Standardization Law of 201, Excise Tax on Alcohol Products, National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims, National Academy of Sports Act; Bicol Medical Center, Lengthening the School Calendar and Las Pinas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center and Cagayan Valley Medical Center.
Senate Committee on Health chairperson Sen. Christopher Go had opened the 96th Malasakit Center now functioning at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center
This is the seventh hospital in Quezon City to open a Malasakit Center, the others being East Avenue Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Novaliches District Hospital, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and Philippine Heart Center.
The Malasakit Center is one-stop shop which brings together the government agencies from which Filipinos may seek medical assistance, namely the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
It aims to reduce to the lowest amount possible the balance of the hospital bills of those who seek its assistance. It covers patient services and expenses, such as laboratories, medicines, surgeries and operations.
Four measures are also awaiting the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte after being approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
These are the Organic Agriculture Act, the Alternative Learning System Act, the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, and the bill Authorizing the President to Expedite the Processing of Permits.
Both the Senate and the House have also approved the conference committee reports of the National Cooperative Month bill and the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act. The measures will then be transmitted to Duterte’s office for approval.
There are also bills that have been approved in the Senate, but have yet to be passed in the House:Night Shift Differential Pay, Separate Facility for Heinous Crimes Inmates Act.
National Transportation Safety Board Act, Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, Firearms Act, Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Legal Assistance Fund, Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute, Amending Arts. 183 and 184 of RA 3815 (Perjury), Prohibiting and Declaring Child Marriage as Illegal, PNP, BFP, BJMP and BuCor Height Equality Act, Cooperatives Development Officer Act and Cash Assistance for Filipino Farmers
The bill seeking to strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering Act has also been approved on second reading in the Senate and will soon be up for final reading approval.
In terms of resolutions, of the 598 resolutions filed since July 2019, 80 have been adopted.