The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should not punish the public for the supposed slow utilization of the Department of Health (DOH) budget in the previous years, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday. ADVERTISEMENTThe 2019 budget for HHRD was reduced to P1.2 billion from P9.6 billion, while the HFEP budget was slashed to just P50 million from P30 billion. Drilon noted that Health Secretary Francisco Duque had denied being a slow spender. But even assuming that DOH was indeed slow in utilizing its budget, the DBM should not punish the people and should just go after DOH officials, Drilon stressed. Diokno also denied that the reduction in the HHRD budget could displace some 15,000 health workers, a matter that Drilon had warned about.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 20, 2018 10:41 UTC