Malaking kawalan umano para sa monitoring system ng Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) ang tinapyas na budget ng opisina para sa susunod na taon.
Ito ang apela ni Phivolcs officer-in-charge Renato Solidum nang humarap sa pagdinig ng Senado para sa 2021 budget ng Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
“Many of the monitoring systems now are directly supported by IT. So even if you have censors, these will be operated, maintained, and evaluated using IT equipment. And those were taken away,” ayon sa opisyal.
Ayon kay DOST Sec. Fortunato de la Peña, P133-million ang tinapyas mula sa panukalang P454-million budget ng kanilang attached agency.
Ang inalis na pondo ay para sana sa pagpapalakas ng information and communications technology ng ahensya. Kabilang dito ang pagtatayo ng monitoring stations sa buong bansa.
“‘Yun pong mga malaking part would be related to the equipment support. And they took away the ICT support on the monitoring system,” ani Solidum.
Sa ilalim ng National Expenditure Program ng Department of Budget and Management, P23-billion lang ang aprubadong pondo ng DOST sa 2021.
Kabilang sa mga natapyasan ng pondo ay ang research and development insitutes ng ahensya tulad ng:
- Industrial Technology Development Institute
- Forest Products Research and Development Institute
- Philippine Textile Research Institute
- Metals Industry Research and Development Center
- Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
