{"id":261058,"date":"2020-07-09T07:16:39","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T11:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=261058"},"modified":"2020-07-09T07:16:39","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T11:16:39","slug":"special-session-for-bayanihan-2-still-being-assessed-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/09\/special-session-for-bayanihan-2-still-being-assessed-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Special session for \u2018Bayanihan 2\u2019 still being assessed: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In an online forum on Wednesday, Sotto said the Palace\u2019s plan to call for a special session \u201cwill not really have a big effect at this point.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: House of Representatives of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The executive branch is still assessing the need for Congress\u2019 special session to tackle proposed \u201cBayanihan 2\u201d which contains a stimulus package to revive the country\u2019s economy after the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement a day after Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Senate is no longer keen on a special session for the passage of Bayanihan 2 since Congress is set to resume its second regular session on July 27.<\/p>\n

In an online forum on Wednesday, Sotto said the Palace\u2019s plan to call for a special session \u201cwill not really have a big effect at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque, in a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4, agreed with Sotto.<\/p>\n

\u201cTina-tantiya nga po kung kinakailangan pang tumawag ng<\/em>\u00a0special session\u00a0kasi malapit na rin po naman talaga ang pagbubukas ng<\/em>\u00a0regular session\u00a0ng Kongreso. Tignan po natin<\/em>\u00a0(We are evaluating whether there is still a need to call for a special session because Congress\u2019 regular session is scheduled to open [this month]. Let\u2019s see),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On July 2, Roque announced that President Rodrigo Duterte is set to ask Congress to hold a special session to discuss the passage of Bayanihan 2.<\/p>\n

Roque\u2019s previous announcement came after the country\u2019s economic team was able to iron out issues concerning the proposed economic stimulus package which was designed to ensure the country\u2019s recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cBayanihan 2\u201d will serve as a supplemental measure to Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which already expired on June 25.<\/p>\n

RA 11469 gave Duterte 31 emergency powers to address the Covid-19 crisis in the country.<\/p>\n

The Senate and the House of Representatives have already drafted their different versions of a proposed measure replacing RA 11469.<\/p>\n

Their proposed bills, however, were also different from the executive department\u2019s proposed law, which limits the cost of the stimulus package to only PHP140 billion.<\/p>\n

One of the 31 temporary special powers granted to Duterte under the now-expired RA 11469 was the granting of emergency subsidies ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP8,000 to around 18 million poor families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Malaca\u00f1ang earlier said the expiration of RA 11469 would not affect the distribution of cash assistance to low-income households.<\/p>\n

Roque, in his latest remarks, apologized anew for the delayed release of the second tranche of emergency subsidies under the social amelioration program (SAP).<\/p>\n

He also reassured SAP beneficiaries that they would get the financial aid faster, once the government is able to settle all the issues hounding the electronic disbursement of SAP assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPara doon sa susunod na mga ayuda, kung meron man, eh mas mapabilis na rin. Kumbaga<\/em>\u00a0one step backward, two steps forward po\u00a0ang ginagawa natin<\/em>\u00a0(We will be able to speed up the distribution of assistance to beneficiaries. It\u2019s like we\u2019re doing one step backward, two steps forward),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Around 17 million poor families are expected to benefit from the second phase of SAP.<\/p>\n

The government has partnered with GCash, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, Robinson\u2019s Bank, PayMaya, and Starpay to ensure the speedy release of the second wave of payouts for SAP beneficiaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The executive branch is still assessing the need for Congress\u2019 special session to tackle proposed \u201cBayanihan 2\u201d which contains …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":228728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261060,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261058\/revisions\/261060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}