Andronico Del Rosario
From the looks of it, the Duterte administration is not at all concerned about which agency needs the most to get the country out of its economic slump, as the 2021 National Expenditure Program (NEP) shows a focus on law enforcement and the military.
Lawyer Ruben Carranza raised the alarm anew with a simplified breakdown of the latest NEP. It showed how President Rodrigo Duterte still thinks the military and police will find a way to solve COVID-19.
Duterte’s 2021 budget in a pandemic shows Filipinos how much he cares about killing vs healing:
Military ₱203B
Police ₱190B
Health ₱131B— Ruben Carranza (@RCarranza_) March 22, 2021
“Duterte’s 2021 budget in a pandemic shows Filipinos how much he cares more about killing than healing,” Carranza said in his tweet, which has since over 1,500 retweets.
Carranza pulled the numbers and the analysis from an article written by JC Punongbayan for Rappler back in 2020, when Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado sent the 2021 NEP to Congress for deliberation back in August 2020.
The 2021 NEP sees the Philippine National Police (PNP) get a P2.56 billion increase in its budget. Also, a P16.97 billion increase for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Also included in the budget is the controversial P16.44 billion budget for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which has been very active during the pandemic—but not for the right reasons.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) received a hefty P49.77 billion budget cut for 2021, which supposedly included money to purchase essentials for the pandemic, like personal protective equipment, masks, medication, test kits, laboratory commodities, equipment, and infrastructure. No funds were given.
The 2021 General Appropriations Act has since been signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, though changes made to the budget were minimal at best.
The President’s focus still lies on infrastructure projects like the Department of Public Works and Highways received a whopping 694.8-billion-peso cut of the 4.5-trillion-peso budget for 2021.
That’s two-and-a-half times more than the budget given to the Department of Health, which now sits at P287.5 billion.
Misplaced priorities?
In last week’s address, Duterte revealed that he still has his heart out for the PNP, who at one point he called his “errand boys.”
Duterte: Yung pulis naman na matino, dinoble ko ang sweldo ninyo, maligaya ako, pati yung sundalo. Nakikita ko na medyo komportable na kayo ng kaunti, yung iba nga nakakabili nga ng sasakyan… Basta makarating sakin (ang corruption complaints), bantay ka talaga.
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) March 22, 2021
In his speech, he said he doubled the salary of law enforcement and the military. He cited some officers have already been shown living a “more comfortable life.”
“Yung iba nga nakakabili na ng sasakyan,” he added, while also asking his men to make sure any complaint about corruption reaches his office.
Duterte and the National Task Force for COVID-19 (NTF) have continued to place an emphasis on a militaristic approach to containing the virus.
As of today, Metro Manila and neighboring provinces Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna have been placed in a quarantine bubble after cases hit a 2021 high of more than 8,000 cases in a day.
The NTF has likewise asked local government units to increase police visibility and strictly enforce health and safety protocols like wearing face masks and face shields, as well as imposing a unified curfew in the NCR bubble.
