Re-channel money from debt payment to kids’ welfare—UN

MANILA, Philippines—While they comprise almost half of the country’s population, children hardly figure in the budget, and allocation for their concerns and needs remain measly every year, according to the report of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The UN report, which was released this month, expressed concern over the high allocation given for debt payments.

“The committee notes with concern that the budgetary allocations for children’s social services, health services, and education have decreased in terms of percentage of the national budget,” it said.

It added, “In this regard, the committee reiterates its deep concern at the fact that the state party allocates more than 30 percent of its national budget to debt service-interest payment and that the share allocated to debt servicing has increased over the last years.”

The report, including recommendations, came from the combined 3rd and 4th reports of the Philippines to the UN submitted early this year on its compliance to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, where the country is a signatory. A parallel report was submitted by the NGO Coalition made up of 15 organizations dealing with children’s concerns.

The UN committee called on the government to “prioritize and increase budgetary allocations for children at national and local levels.”

It said that the government should use a “child’s right approach in the elaboration of the state budget by implementing a tracking system for allocation and use of resources for children throughout the budget, thus providing visibility to the investment on children.”

“The committee also urges the state party to use this tracking system for impact assessments on how investments in any sector may serve the best interest of the child, ensuring that the differential impact of such investment on girls and boys is measured,” the report added.

In the proposed P1.54-trillion budget for 2010, the Department of Education will get the biggest allocation with P172.8 billion.

Despite this, the proposed appropriation for the department was “just a maintenance budget,” according to Davao Oriental Representative Thelma Almario, the sponsor of the department’s budget during floor debate on October 16 in the House of Representatives.

Almario said the allocation could not live up to the growing population of students every year. She added that the department needed at least P815 million this year for the repair or reconstruction of public schools damaged by the recent typhoons.

Minerva Cabiles of the group Save the Children, one of the members of the NGO Coalition, observed that “children are invisible in the budget.”

“There’s no budget directly for children, and worse, priority is given to debt servicing over social services,” Cabiles told reporters in a forum late last week.

The UN report said that there should also be defined “strategic budgetary lines for disadvantaged or particularly vulnerable children and for those situations that may require affirmative social measures such as birth registration.”

The government should also ensure that these budgetary lines are protected even in situations of economic crisis, natural disasters, or other emergencies. –Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net