The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on second reading the proposed Bayahinan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2, which seeks to provide President Rodrigo Duterte special powers and funds to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Through viva voce voting, lawmakers approved House Bill 6953 providing for a P162-billion standby fund to support response measures to address the Covid-19 pandemic. This is higher compared to the P140 billion Bayanihan 2 of the Senate.
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte, sponsor of the bill, said the lower chamber will approve the Bayanihan 2 on third and final reading next week, saying the bicameral conference committee will be scheduled immediately to reconcile the different versions of the Senate and the House.
He said the government is targeting to implement this Bayanihan 2 in September.
House’s co-chairman for the Economic Stimulus and Recovery Cluster of the Defeat Covid-19 Committee Joey Salceda said the second package of the Bayanihan measures is expected to extend some procurement and budgeting powers reflected in the first Bayanihan package, which expired last June 25.
“This is one of the many necessary steps in our long road to recovery, so we expect to deliberate on other economic measures in the coming weeks,” Salceda said.
Salceda added that “the GDP [gross domestic product] figures to be released tomorrow [Thursday] will probably emphasize the need for other measures in the coming weeks and months.”
Salceda said that he expects second quarter GDP contraction to be “steep, likely in the double-digits, as similar countries have suffered contractions of this scale. But our finances are fine. Our track record and credit ratings were part of the work of the economic team and my committee [Ways and Means], and we believe that our record will survive this pandemic.”
“If the contraction is large, the general government fiscal position has some more space for increased deficit spending,” he added.
Under the bill, the following will be appropriated to support operation and response measures to address the impact of Covid-19.
– P10 billion as subsidy to the National Health Insurance Program of PhilHealth to be used solely to cover COVID-19 expanded testing based on DOH Protocol and for allocation of COVID-19 confinements (inpatients)
– P10.5 billion for the hiring of additional Health Care Workers and arrangements for risk allowance, life insurance, compensation, and compensation for death and critical illness
– P3 billion for procurement of face masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) sets for frontliners and indigents
-P4 billion to finance the construction of temporary medical isolation and quarantine facilities, field hospitals, dormitories for frontliners, and for the expansion of government hospital capacity all over the country
– P20 billion for the implementation of appropriate cash-for-work programs for displaced workers
– P51 billion for the infusion of capital to government financial institutions as their infusion of new capital
– P20 billion as direct cash or loan interest rate subsidies, under the programs of the Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC)
– P10 billion to finance the programs of the DOTr to assist the critically impacted businesses in the transportation industry
– P10 billion to finance the programs of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) assisting the recovery of the tourism industry that shall include the provision of tourism infrastructures
– P100 million to finance the training and subsidies for tourist guides
– P3 billion to assist SUCS in the development of smart campuses through investments in ICT infrastructure
– P600 million for subsidies and allowances to qualified students of public and private Tertiary Education Institutions
– P300 million for subsidies and allowances of affected teaching and non-teaching personnel, including part time faculty, in private and public Tertiary Education Institutions
– P1 billion as additional scholarship funds of TESDA
– P12 billion to finance DSWD programs
– P4 billion to assist the DepEd in the implementation of Digital Education, Information Technology (IT) and Digital Infrastructures and Alternative Learning Modalities
– P1.5 billion as assistance to local government units (LGUs)
-P180 million to finance allowances for national athletes and coaches whose allowances were reduced to 50 percent due to the pandemic
– P820 million as assistance for DFA programs for displaced migrant workers.
The bill said these subsidy and stimulus measures, as well as all other measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic shall be funded from 2020 national budget, savings, revenue collections, proceeds from loans and other foreign borrowings and funds from GOCCs.
The proposed Bayanihan 2 shall be in full force and effect until December 31, 2020.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes