Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon will push for the inclusion of funds for the cash subsidies for low-income families in the proposed 2021 national budget to address hunger and poverty.
Drilon said on Saturday that he will push for the inclusion of the SAP in the P4.506-trillion proposed 2021 national budget.
“Dapat ipagpatuloy ang SAP dahil dumami ang pamilya na mas mahirap ngayon dahilan sa pandemic (The SAP should continue because more families are poorer now because of the pandemic). Poverty is more prevalent today,” Drilon said in an interview over radio DWIZ.
“Sa akin, tugunan kaagad by direct government assistance dahil iyan ay deretso ang tulong sa tao (For me, it should immediately be addressed thru direct government assistance because it will go straight to the people),” he said.
While he supports investments in infrastructure to create jobs, Drilon cited the Filipino proverb: “Ngunit, ang sabi nga, aanhin mo pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo.”
“Sa pamamagitan ng SAP matugunan ang gutom (Through the SAP we can address hunger),” he added.
“‘Yong social amelioration program ay dapat pondohan natin (We should fund the SAP). Siguro sa budget natin dapat mas lamang muna ang para sa social service sector (Maybe our national budget should prioritize more the social service sector). Ang pangangailangan ngayon ay ang kawalan ng pagkain (What should be addressed is hunger).”
Under the SAP, at least 18 million low-income households received a P5,000 to P8,000 monthly subsidy depending on the minimum wage rate in their regions.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, one of the vice chairpersons of the Senate finance committee, acknowledged that the government already has programs under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide assistance to families in need. “We needed SAP this year because we had an emergency situation,” he noted.
Villanueva cited the estimate of the government think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) that 1.5 million Filipino families are projected to slide back into poverty because of the health crisis.
“We will examine that during the budgeting process and ensure that we allocate sufficient funds to provide assistance to those in need,” Villanueva said in a text message.
Senators earlier questioned the lower budget given to the DSWD for next year, specifically for its Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program, which include the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for indigent families.
During the Senate briefing with economic managers on the 2021 national budget, Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado said that the SAP was excluded from the government spending plan to focus on improving the economy and creating instead jobs for displaced families.
The DSWD’s proposed budget for next year is P171.2 billion.
Sen. Drilon will push for SAP funds in proposed nat’l budget
