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2022 Budget – Detached from reality, most skewed priorities: Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, at the continuation of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) briefing on the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP), notes that the allocation for health and social service sectors under the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget is grossly inadequate amid the national health crisis. “The much-needed P45 billion for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots is lodged under unprogrammed appropriations. In contrast, the NTF-ELCAC has a budget of P28 billion,” Drilon said, noting that there is no funding for special risk allowance for health workers, no line item in the budget for hazard pay and that not a single peso is allocated for medical front liners’ meals, accommodation, and transportation allowance. “For the past 23 years that I have been analyzing the budget, the 2022 budget is the most detached from reality and has the most skewed priorities,” Drilon said Thursday, September 9, 2021. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)