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Villanueva urges funding for Philippine Innovation Act: Sen. Joel Villanueva urges Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua to “strongly” recommend funding for the Philippine Innovation Act, which he said, complements the proposed Digital Workforce Competitiveness bill being discussed in the plenary. He said the National Economic and Development Authority’s recommendation to establish a P300 million innovation fund had been denied by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). Chua told Villanueva NEDA has to return the fund this year due to covid-19 pandemic. “The budget for 2021 is crucial in defining the country’s post disaster landscape and we have seen how innovations provide hope, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises amid this pandemic. I hope government will find a way to tap resources to fund Republic Act No. 11293 because as many experts claim, now is the best time for innovations,” Villanueva said during the virtual hearing on the proposed 2021 NEDA budget and its attached agencies Thursday, September 17, 2020. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)