House OKs bill further extending Bayanihan 2 funds’ validity

MANILA – A measure further extending the release, obligation, and disbursement of funds under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 has hurdled second reading approval at the House of Representatives.

During Wednesday’s plenary session, the chamber approved through voice voting House Bill 9538, which seeks to extend anew the validity of funds under Bayanihan 2 until December 31.

It proposes to amend Republic Act 11519, which extended the availability of Bayanihan 2 funds appropriated until June 30, 2021.

Bayanihan 2 is a PHP165.5-billion economic stimulus measure seeking to aid the pandemic-hit sectors.

Bayanihan law: One of the best practices vs. Covid-19

According to a report released by the independent group International Budget Partnership (IBP), the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Bayanihan 1 has been hailed as one of the best practices worldwide by any government as a response to the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

The report released last May highlighted the Philippines’ efforts to ensure accountability through Bayanihan 1, specifically its provisions “ensuring weekly reports on Covid-19 response actions” to oversee the law’s implementation.

The IBP revealed that only four countries, including the Philippines, were rated as having an adequate level of accountability in early Covid-19 fiscal policy responses. The other countries were Australia, Norway, and Peru.

Former House Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano said Bayanihan 1 was the country’s first economic recovery plan to help curb the adverse effects of the pandemic.

Cayetano said the law allowed the national government to reallocate, realign, and reprogram PHP275 billion from the annual budget in response to the pandemic.

It also provided for the purchase of testing kits and medical supplies, as well as the building of quarantine facilities and isolation centers for those suspected to have contracted the virus.

He further noted the Bayanihan 2, or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, helped usher the country into the better normal.

Bayanihan 3 as lifeline measure

The House of Representatives this week approved the PHP401-billion stimulus package under Bayanihan to Arise as One bill or Bayanihan 3 with 238 affirmative votes, no negative votes, and one abstention.

Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo said the Bayanihan 3 provides the lifeline “ayuda” (cash aid) that will cushion the blow of the huge economic downturn experienced by the country last year.

Quimbo was referring to the two rounds of financial aid worth PHP1,000 to be granted to each Filipino. The cash subsidy program shall have a total funding of PHP216 billion.

“Maiibsan po kahit papaano ang hirap ng ordinaryong Pilipino kapag nabigyan natin sila ng PHP1000 per head. Dagdag pambili ng pagkain o gamot din ang PHP1000. Walang maiiwan dahil ang ayuda ay para sa lahat, kahit na anong edad at economic status, (The suffering of ordinary Filipinos will be alleviated if we provide them with PHP1,000 per head. This PHP1,000 can be used to buy food or medicine. No one will be left behind because the cash aid would be for all, regardless of age or economic status),” Quimbo said.

Support to businesses, Quimbo said, is also a crucial component of the recently approved bill.

She highlighted the well-targeted assistance in Bayanihan 3 for critically-affected sectors, including wage subsidies with a funding of PHP20 billion, assistance to displaced workers at PHP25 billion, assistance to the agri-fishery sector and cooperatives at PHP30 billion, and medical assistance to indigents at PHP9 billion.

Other assistance in the measure are for national nutrition, cooperatives, basic education, and pension and gratuity fund.

“This will ensure that as we move forward, no one gets left behind,” she said.

She called on the Executive department to support the passage of the Bayanihan 3, as she assured that Congress will continue to approve measures that will generate additional revenues for the government.

This includes a bill seeking to establish a tax regime covering Philippine offshore gaming operators POGO), which is seen to shore in PHP36.5 billion worth of government revenues in the first two years of implementation.

“This should help us strike an easier balance between the widening fiscal deficit and the need to introduce a larger stimulus,” Quimbo said.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, meanwhile, said the current economic conditions, the pressing need for household income support, and the enduring strength of the country’s fiscal fundamentals all point to the need and the ability to fund a third stimulus package focusing on directly assisting Filipino families.

Salceda particularly cited the use of the Universal Basic Income strategy in Bayanihan 3 as a model for other future income redistribution and transfer schemes

“It is effective, quick, and removes the politics out of social assistance,” he said.

He said it is the Senate’s turn to come up with its own proposal to extend a lifeline to Filipino households.

He also appealed to the Executive to consider even the most essential parts of the Bayanihan 3 proposal, noting that the government is capable of funding at least part of these items.

One of the funding provisions in the bill, according to Salceda, is that mandatory dividend remittances by government-owned and controlled corporations will be increased from 50 percent to 75 percent, while the President will have the power to withdraw capital from overcapitalized GOCCs.

“The House remains committed to President Rodrigo Duterte’s program of economic recovery and to necessary fiscal and economic reforms. But, whenever necessary, we will go above and beyond what is proposed to meet what is actually needed by our people,” Salceda said.