President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration will need more than P240 billion to fund its Covid-19 response in 2022, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing that the administration was seeking a Covid-19 response fund of P240,747,386,000 budget for next year.
Of the number, P93.75 billion will go to the Department of Health, the breakdown of which is as follows:
- Health Facilities Enhancement Program: P19.47 billion
- Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases: P819.3 million
- Health Facility and Plan Development: P105.6 million
- Assistance to Indigent Patients: P16.99 billion
- Procurement and Supply Chain Management Service: P463.5 million
- Health Information Technology: P368.2 million
- Covid-19 Response Laboratory Commodities: P5.09 billion
- Covid-19 HRH Emergency Hiring: P3.8 billion
- Asian Development Bank Loan: P102.2 million
- World Bank Loan: P1.18 billion
The Department of Labor and Employment will be getting P33,629,475,000 based on the proposal presented by Roque. The number will be used to fund the livelihood and emergency employment programs (P22.33 billion) and overseas workers welfare services (P11.29 billion).
Roque said the government was seeking P11,517,459,000 for the Department of Social Welfare and Development and P1,278,170,000 for the Department of Science and Technology.
The Department of Trade and Industry will be getting P1,203,000,000, while the Philippine Genomic Information and Resource Hub Phase II of the University of the Philippines System will be granted a P140,000,000 budget.
Budget for booster shots
Roque said P45 billion was sought for the procurement of booster shots against Covid-19.
The Philippine health department has yet to approve the use of booster shots to further protect an individual against Covid-19.
The Philippines has fully vaccinated over 12.88 million individuals as of Aug. 18, far behind its 50 to 70 million target by yearend.
The Duterte administration is seeking a record P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022. John Ezekiel J. Hirro