{"id":266395,"date":"2020-08-25T06:33:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T10:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=266395"},"modified":"2020-08-25T06:33:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T10:33:13","slug":"prrd-proposes-congressional-oversight-body-on-bayanihan-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/25\/prrd-proposes-congressional-oversight-body-on-bayanihan-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD proposes congressional oversight body on Bayanihan spending"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on August 24, 2020. ROBINSON NI\u00d1AL JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Congress to create an oversight committee that will monitor the disbursement of funds earmarked to ensure the government’s effective fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

Duterte made the call in a taped public address aired on state-run PTV-4 on Tuesday morning, as he ensured that his administration would spend the Covid-19 funds \u201cwisely and correctly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress is free to participate or create oversight committees \u2013 committees of all sorts,\u201d he said. \u201cI am urging Congress, as a matter of fact, I am demanding Congress to join us in putting up measures to ensure that the money is spent to its purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s statement came as the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2), which aims to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, only needs his signature to become a law.<\/p>\n

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have already ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed Bayanihan 2 which is expected to reach Duterte\u2019s desk by Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Duterte said Filipinos have the right to know how the government utilizes the money allotted for the Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge Congress,\u00a0ilagay na ninyo ang lahat ng<\/em>\u00a0safety measures\u00a0para walang palpak<\/em>\u00a0(implement all the safety measures so there will be irregularities),\u201d he said. \u201cI am willing to give way.\u00a0At saka kung gusto ninyo ng<\/em>\u00a0accounting for every transaction,\u00a0puwede rin<\/em>\u00a0(And if you want, there can be accounting for every transaction. It can be done).\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte said the proposed congressional oversight panel may also summon state agencies and departments with questionable spending of funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can report to Congress weekly or at your choosing.\u00a0Walang problema \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s not a problem). I\u2019m ready to order that. It is not a matter of separation of powers.\u00a0Iyan \u2018yung parang<\/em>\u00a0expanded oversight\u00a0lang na gusto lang man<\/em>\u00a0(It will serve as an expanded oversight committee that can know everything). It is never illegal to know where your money is going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Around PHP165 billion will be allotted for the proposed Bayanihan 2, which intends to extend the validity of Duterte\u2019s special powers by providing a stimulus fund to support the country\u2019s response and recovery interventions for the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The PHP165-billion stimulus package under the proposed Bayanihan 2 consists of PHP140 billion in regular appropriations and PHP25 billion in standby funds.<\/p>\n

Publication of agencies\u2019 spending<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte expressed confidence that his Cabinet members manning different government agencies would not allow corruption to proliferate amid the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that they will not allow corruption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he is also willing to direct all government offices and departments to disclose their Covid-19 spending every 15 days to prove that there is no irregularity in the disbursement of funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa Cabinet, another publication\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0disbursement\u00a0nila kung ilan ang ginastos nila ngayong buwan na ito o gusto mo<\/em>\u00a0every 15 days\u00a0para mas maganda<\/em>\u00a0(The Cabinet must publish how they spend the money for this month or it can be done every 15 days). Every 15 days, you would know how much a department has disbursed money of the people,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte also pledged to impose \u201cstricter measures\u201d to make sure that the Covid-19 funds would be exhausted properly.<\/p>\n

He added that he would not hesitate to endorse the filing of cases against corrupt public officials who will attempt to pocket the money allocated for the fight against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllow us time to do our thing, spend the money and there will always be a time for reckoning and that will be the time when we account for the money that we have used in the fight against (Covid-19),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Congress to create an oversight committee that will monitor the disbursement of funds earmarked …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","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\/266395","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266397,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266395\/revisions\/266397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}