MANILA, Philippines —The Senate trimmed P49 billion from the initial proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr), Sen. Grace Poe said Tuesday, noting that the chamber increased funding for COVID-19 vaccines.
The Senate decided to reduce the budget of the DOTr since it “has a track record of having difficulty utilizing or absorbing their budget and actually spending it,” said Poe, who defended the agency’s budget during plenary debates at the Senate last month.
The DOTr’s proposed 2021 budget under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Department of Budget Management (DBM) to Congress amounts to P143 billion.
“We trimmed it down to ab…
Keep on reading: Senate trims DOTr budget by P49 billion, adds more to virus response