Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first recognized on December 2019 and originated in

Wuhan province in China. It was then afterwards spreads globally affecting lots of country including the
Philippines. The first recorded case here in the Philippines was on January 30, a female tourist from
Wuhan, and the first local transmission recorded was on March 6, a man located at San Juan City.
According to Lopez (2020), COVID-19 battle is funded largely by the government’s ₱600-billion war chest,
with big businesses adding at least ₱3.6 billion. However, the Treasury said there is just ₱101.6 billion
cash on hand so far to fund subsidies to 18 million families. Still, medical supplies and public support are
still in demand.

Base on my personal understanding and observation, I think that the national budget is not being
handled well by the government. The Local Government Units (LGU’s) were ordered to respond amidst
confusing directives from the national government (Corazon & Santos, 2020). Having no instant financial
support obtained from the national government, the local governments have to do a responsive action
towards their respective places which led to local governments to use the calamity funds to provide the
needed support of the people, this proves that the government are not being responsive, prepared and
organized. Furthermore, I want to emphasize that the local government using the calamity funds might put
their respective cities at risk since it must be and supposedly used for natural disaster that are actually
unpredictable, no one predicted the virus but people specifically the government are and should be aware
of COVID-19 as of December and should have done extra precautionary measures and actions to prevent
the virus in spreading in the country, but unfortunately, there was no actions from the government during
that time. In this case, I suggest that before announcing something to the public they must first ensure
that the plans will be executed satisfactorily and already being processed to prevent conflicts especially in
this pandemic where actions must be rapid.

According to Aceron and Maglanque (2020), Global Health Security Index showed that the
Philippines scored zero in a total of 5 health security indicators. The Sin Tax Law or RA 10351 was
ordinated in 2012 that adds up revenue for health purposes, and restrain the usage of cigarettes and
consumption of alcohol by increasing the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol. Data from the 2019 Sin Tax
Law Annual Report shows that 55% of the DOH budget comes from sin tax revenues alone (Aceron &
Maglanque, 2020), therefore indicating that the resources of funds are coming from the Sin Tax Law and
there is a decreasing sources of health budget from the national government. In my intake how can the
national government handle the national budget properly if it cannot comply and participate in funding the
health care system. Furthermore, with the evidence of the success of the Sin Tax Law it must show the
responsiveness of the health care system in response to the pandemic by providing the necessary needs
of the Filipinos but unfortunately, it shows the otherwise. I personally suggest that the government should
also prioritize in funding the health care system in the country, it also have not been receiving enough
attention to make it efficient. In this current situation, the pandemic has been exposing of what the
government must prioritized and what the country is lacking and it shows a room for improvement if only
people would see and listen.

References

Aceron, J. & Maglanque, V. (2020, March 12). [ANALYSIS] Amid the coronavirus crisis, where have all
the sin tax funds gone? Retrieved from: https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/254245-analysis-

where-sin-tax-funds-coronavirus

Corazon, H. & Santos, J. (2020, March 29). Philippines: Advance the political-social-economic
alternatives in confronting Covid-19 pandemic. Retrieved from: http://www.europe-
solidaire.org/spip.php?article52679

Lopez, M.L. (2020, April 8). TIMELINE: The COVID-19 response money trail. Retrieved from:
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/8/COVID-19-response-money-trail.html