The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) received a budget amounting to P24.268 billion for 2022 under the P5.024-trillion national budget signed by President Duterte on Dec. 30.
DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña said the DOST budget for this year “is lower by P919.8 million” compared to their 2021 appropriations.
However, he said eight of the 18 DOST attached agencies secured an increase in their budget.
These include Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), P55.77 million; Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI), P51.81 million; Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), P39.35 million; National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP), P30.04 million; Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), P20.83 million; and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), P16.568 million.
He said the other 10 attached agencies have lower budgets for this year compared to 2021.
The DOST chief noted that the Office of the Secretary which includes the Central and Regional Offices got an increase of P176.58 million.
The increase is intended for the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), specifically grants for various projects of the Central Office and DOST-III.
The DOST Central received a MOEE budget of P331.524 million, while DOST-III got P50 million.
De la Peña said additional P10.44 million was also provided for Personal Services (PS).
Of the DOST’s total budget for 2022, 19 percent or P4.5B is allocated for PS, 77 percent or P18.844 billion for MOOE.
“A total of P888 million or 4 percent of the budget is to be used for various capital expenditures such as acquisition of equipment and continuation of ongoing building construction and other infrastructure,” de la Peña said.
Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11639 or the General Appropriations Act of 2022 (GAA) in a ceremony with lawmakers and Cabinet members in Malacañang on Dec. 30.