“It’s an inclusive budget. So there are social protection provisions for the poor in it for an inclusive growth in the country,” said Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance.

Legarda said pro-poor provisions in the Duterte administration’s maiden budget include funding for irrigation so that the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) will no longer collect fees from farmers; scholarships for science, agriculture and fisheries, and mathematics for poor students; and universal coverage of the Philippine Health Insurance or PhilHealth.

“So any poor Filipino can walk in any state hospital and not worry of any balance billing,” she said.

The budget also includes funding for the anti-crime drive of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the construction of rehabilitation centers for drug addicts.

There is also an allocation for livelihood projects for conflict-affected areas.

Legarda said she made sure the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and almost all agencies, including the departments of education (DepEd), agriculture (DA), and public works have provisions on climate resiliency.

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, meanwhile, asked that billions in lump sums in the proposed budget be itemized.

Recto said there is a “bipartisan consensus” to demand the “unbundling” of many lump sum allocations in the interest of transparency, fast implementation and accountability.

He noted that “itemization is the antidote to the underspending” which hounded the previous administration, with one estimate pegging at P1 trillion the amount of appropriations “not spent in time or in full.”

“By knowing where funds will go, who will implement it, and details of what will be implemented, the projects will be delivered on time and the people win,” Recto said.

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source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/senate-starts-plenary-debates-p3-000000869.html