Press Release
December 12, 2007

Senator Aquino seeks additional
funding for social services

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government, lobbied for and ensured the approval of key budgetary amendments in yesterday's budget hearing in an effort to achieve a more equitable distribution of public funds and to augment the resources of the social sector.

Consistent with his platform of transparency and accountability in government, the opposition senator urged his colleagues to support the reduction of P 500 million from the P 3 billion Kilos Asenso support funds, which were earmarked for projects whose guidelines and specifications still need to be defined.

To address the urgent need of other government agencies to properly execute concrete programs and policies, he recommended the realignment of the excluded fund by awarding P250 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) for its teacher training initiative, and the other half to the Department of Health (DOH) for its anti-TB vaccination project, the SARS research program and the improvement of regional and tertiary hospitals.

The proposed amendment was accepted by the sponsor and duly approved by the plenary.

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