By FERDIE J. MAGLALANG
The Senate is eyeing the possible realignment of part of the R31.11-billion it had cut to augment budgetary support for education and health services as it resumes today plenary debates, which are now on the penultimate stage, on the proposed 2006 P1.053-trillion national budget.
Enveloped by a tight schedule in the approval on third and final reading of the 2006 General Appropriations Act last week, senators are now submitting their proposed amendments to the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Manuel B. Villar Jr.
"Now the realignment begins," Sen. Ralph Recto, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said, as he batted for the realignment of a "big chunk" of the P31.11-billion Villar cut to augment the budget for health services.
Recto proposed that R150-million shall be realigned for the purchase of modern equipment for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and some P100-million in scholarship grants to medical students "in order to arrest the national shortage of doctors."
He also batted for the increase by P250 million of the annual medicine budget of the public health system and an additional R100 million to the government’s child and maternal immunization programs.
"(It) is just a fraction of the amount (that is) actually needed. But this can be a good start. It will stock up a lot of Botikas sa Barangays with commonly used affordable medicines," he said.
"By putting money in vaccines, doctors, and hospitals, we are transforming some budget accounts into health spending," he added.
Sen. Mar Roxas said he is proposing an additional R9.18 billion to the R110-billion budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) for basic educational resources, teacher training, and private school subsidy.
"The Constitution mandates the state to accord education the highest budgetary priority and this mandate would be served if the Senate adds more money to the education budget," he said.
For educational resources alone, Roxas explained that the DepEd is still short of P5.86 billion to close the classroom, teacher, desk, and textbook gaps all over the country.
"The agency will need an additional P22.88 billion to close these gaps," he said.
Roxas said he is also proposing an increase of P50 million for the threeweek training course on English, Math, and Science for 5,000 public school teachers and an additional P270 million as government subsidy for private schools.
"Increasing the budget for education is the appropriate step the Senate must take, and the reward for our country and people if education takes the highest budgetary allocation would be immeasurable," he said.
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