Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is pushing for the removal of the P1-billion cap on the Bureau of Fire Protection's (BFP) use of revenues generated from the Fire Code of the Philippines.
Dela Rosa made his appeal during the Senate’s deliberation on the BFP’s proposed 2025 budget, pointing out that the cap restricts the agency's ability to fully utilize its available funds.
The senator noted that although the cap was deleted in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), it was reinstated in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the Executive Department and subsequently adopted in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
“The cap of P1 billion is again present in the Special provision under the BFP budget. This cap limits the BFP to utilize their available funds. Ibig sabihin po, kahit meron naman silang pambili ng additional fire trucks or personal protective equipment, hindi po sila makakabili dahil sa cap na ito (Even if the BFP has means to procure additional fire trucks or personal protective equipment, they cannot purchase any due to the cap),” he said.
During the interpellation, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, who sponsored the BFP’s proposed 2025 budget, highlighted that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had conditionally vetoed the cap’s deletion in the 2024 GAA, noting that it was part of a conditional implementation veto message. Tolentino expressed support for Dela Rosa’s proposal to remove the special provision, which limits the BFP from fully utilizing the revenues collected under the Fire Code.
Under Republic Act 9514, the revised Fire Code of the Philippines, 80 percent of taxes, fees, and fines collected by the BFP are allocated to a trust fund for the bureau’s modernization.
Dela Rosa, who played a key role in shepherding the approval of the BFP Modernization Act in the Senate in 2021, stressed that removing the cap would further support the agency’s efforts to upgrade its facilities and equipment.