House panel OKs P15.2-M budget for tourism dive program
Scuba diver David Huang checks the colourful corals at the shark airport dive site while in the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park on June 8, 2024, World Oceans Day. The dive site usually has moderate and strong currents during which schools of fish such as snappers, sharks and mantas appear. Danny Ocampo, ABS-CBN NewsMANILA — The House Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee (BARSc) has endorsed a funding request to restore a P15.2-million allocation for the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) dive development initiative in the upcoming 2027 budget.
During the subcommittee deliberations, Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Stephen James Tan raised a funding appeal concerning the agency’s “Dive Destination Development, Promotion, and Sustainability” program.
According to Tan, the initiative is “essentially a program focused on making the Philippine dive destination more developed, marketable, safe, and environmentally sustainable.”
Despite its initial funding proposal, Tan noted that the item faced a setback in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).
He pointed out that “on the NEP of 2027, there was zero allocation so they are trying to request the BARSc that be allocated 15.2 million for 2027 budget.”
Following his presentation, Tan formally moved for the panel’s consideration, stating, “I move… that this item be considered for the approval of the BARSc.”
With the motion duly seconded and no objections raised from the floor, BARSc chairperson Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing formally announced the panel’s decision, declaring, “There is a motion to increase the budget of DOT, particularly for the dive program. It has been duly seconded… The motion is carried.”
The subcommittee finalized the adjustment, noting the inclusion of “an amount of P15.2 million” for the DOT’s Dive Destination Development Promotion Sustainability Program.