MANILA, Philippines — Senators from both the majority and the minority blocs are supporting the realignment of the P19.1-billion funding proposed for a multiagency anti-insurgency task force to augment next year’s budget for housing and the government’s pandemic response, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENTDrilon declined to identify the other senators but said he himself wanted the entire NTF-Elcac budget realigned. P8B for health sectorSen. Risa Hontiveros said she wanted at least P8 billion appropriated for the task force to be reallocated for the health sector, including pandemic response. Detained Sen. Leila de Lima, a native of Bicol, is pushing for bigger allocations for disaster response in the 2021 budget. The task force “must be transparent and accountable to Congress and to the people for the public funds that they are given for their operations,” he said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 04, 2020 21:33 UTC