By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz
THE Senate was poised to ratify late Thursday the P165-billion funding bill endorsed by a bicameral panel to bankroll the Bayanihan To Recover as One Act, also known as Bayanihan 2.
The House of Representatives will ratify the bicameral version on Monday, according to the chamber’s leaders.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Senate Finance Committee chairman, said the final version was agreed upon in an earlier meeting of senators and congressmen sitting in a bicameral conference panel that wrapped up the Bayanihan bill for timely approval by Congress, so it could be submitted to President Duterte for signing into law.
Angara said P140 billion will be drawn from regular appropriation allocations, while the balance of P25 billion will be funded from government savings or fresh revenues.
The senator noted that just like Bayanihan 1, Bayanihan 2 can be deemed part of an extra power for the President given the emergency situation in the country with the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bayanihan packages effectively provide the Executive spending authority to respond to the pandemic by realigning the 2020 budget and legislating outlays for the response.
While the bulk of Bayanihan 1 went to emergency doles for millions of Filipinos impacted by crippling lockdowns imposed to curb transmission of the deadly coronavirus, Bayanihan 2 is meant to help badly hit sectors recover, while allotting also funds for other vital pandemic measures like contact tracing and quarantine facilities.
As approved, Angara said Bayanihan 2 was crafted for the “survival and recovery” of the country from the Covid-19 pandemic, with 25 percent of the budget or over P40 billion allotted for the health sector.
Tucked into the budget proposal is funding to buy medical supplies to contain Covid-19, including Covid test kits and personal protective equipment for health personnel assigned to Covid areas.
Angara said it also included budget for contact tracers as well as the purchase of vaccines against Covid 19 and setting up isolation and quarantine facilities.
In addition, it will fund the P10,000 a month “special risk allowance” for public and private health workers, apart from P15,000 for treatment of health workers afflicted with mild or moderate Covid 19 infection.
Just like Bayanihan 1, the amount of P100,000 will still be allotted to health workers “severely affected,” and P1 million for the family if a health worker dies.
SAP for ECQ sites
It also includes a “special amelioration program” specifically for those in enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) areas, with the budget ranging from P13 billion to P16 billion.
Among those who would be provided with assistance are teachers and part-time teachers in private schools who were not included in Bayanihan 1.
Moreover, the bill provides for a 60-day moratorium for paying debts, including salary loans, business loans and insurance premium.
As for water and power bills, house rental or lease for business space, a 30-day reprieve will be provided for those in areas covered by ECQ and MECQ.
According to Angara, Bayanihan 2 will be in effect until December 19, 2020, when Congress adjourns for its traditional yearend recess.
House ratifies on Aug. 24
The House of Representatives will ratify on Monday the proposed P165-billion Bayanihan 2, according to Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte and Majority Leader Martin Romualdez.
“After three days of marathon sessions with our Senate counterparts, we finally approved the reconciled final version of the Bayanihan 2 or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act this [Thursday] afternoon. The House will ratify on Monday and the Senate this afternoon,” Villafuerte said.
Romualdez said, “It [the bicam version of the bill] will be ratified immediately next week.”
Of the P165-billion stimulus fund, Deputy Majority Leader Wilter Wee Palma II said P140 billion is readily available for the government to spend, while the remaining P25 billion is a standby allocation.
The standby fund, to be made available once additional funds are generated from savings, will be allocated thus: P10 billion for Covid testing and procurement of medication and vaccine; P9 billion to support wholesale banking and equity infusion of the LBP for low-interest loans and P6.5 billion to support wholesale banking and equity infusion of the DBP.
“Our job is to allocate. If and when the DOF [Department of Finance] finds funding for the P25 billion, then at least they already have a standby authority to spend for it,” he added.
According to the highlights of the bicameral committee meeting, lawmakers have agreed on the existence of continuing national emergency.
With this, the committee granted the President powers necessary to undertake Covid-19 response and recovery interventions.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the Bayanihan 2 seeks to allocate a total of P10.5 billion in various compensations for medical frontliners, including a special risk allowance not just for public healthcare workers (HCWs) but also for private HCWs treating Covid-19 patients.
The bicam committee also approved the mandatory testing of public and private health workers every 15 days. They also included new provision penalizing any person who discriminates against any person who has declared, confirmed, suspected or recovered from Covid-19.
Other highlights
The Bayanihan 2 bill also provides financial relief to agrarian reform beneficiaries; payment of such interest, penalties and surcharges used for land acquisition shall be condoned, as proposed by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda.
Bayanihan 2 directs the LandBank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines to introduce a low-interest and/or flexible term loan program for operating expenses available to business affected by the pandemic to assist and encourage them and their creditors to continue investing in lending to and operating their businesses. Priority shall be given to agri-fishery and non-essential businesses that are micro, small and medium enterprises but not limited to start-ups and cooperatives.
The bill also liberalizes the grant of incentives for the manufacture or importation of critical or needed equipment until June 25, 2020.
Not included
Salceda, however, said the final version does not yet include the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) and the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE).
“These are also urgently needed, especially GUIDE, which will release more credit into the economy. The House version has these essential reforms, so we hope the Senate can have these bills passed soon so we can enact them,” he added.
Salceda is preparing a comprehensive proposal for credit uptake acceleration.
“Unless more people borrow, especially consumers, credit facilities will not translate into real sector improvements. We need more people to borrow, at a reasonable and manageable loss to the government if necessary,” he added.
With the passage of Bayanihan 2, Salceda said he hopes the Senate can live up to its commitment to pass the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act this month.
“The House is ready to ratify a good Senate version immediately, or go to bicam for a better version if it does not meet key principles. They promised the Filipino people that they will have a version passed before August ends. We take note of that promise,” he added.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza
2 comments
Kailan kaya posibleng permahan ng pres.ang bayanihan act 2?
Is bayanihan 2 effectivity date September 12, 2020?