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Meager budget for social services in the 2022 NEP: Sen. Imee Marcos notes the small appropriations for social services, saying that there are no marked increases in the social programs and projects to address the COVID-19 pandemic despite daily cases reaching 20,000, further acknowledging that more or less two million Filipinos will be plunged into poverty. Marcos, during Wednesday’s Committee on Finance briefing of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) on the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP) September 8, 2021, said that in terms of percent allocation of the total budget, the social services will get only 38.3 percent of the entire budget of P5.024 trillion. “I am baffled by these priorities or the lack of ayuda or cash-for-work or any other programs that will aid immediately in alleviating the difficulties encountered by many of our countrymen,” Marcos said. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)