SOLONS RACE TO FINISH COVID-19-RELATED BILLS
LAWMAKERS in both chambers raced on Wednesday to approve the remaining measures to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, with an eye to ensuring the multibillion-peso public funds go to sectors most hammered by the lockdowns induced by the pandemic.
Senators rushed to approve on second reading the P140-billion Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, which, like the first Bayanihan Act,
is time-bound and is targeted at mitigating the impact of Covid-19. To curb transmission of the deadly respiratory disease, the government had imposed lockdowns since mid-march, shuttering businesses and schools. The paralysis is forecast by some experts to cause the gross domestic product to shrink by as much as 9.6 percent in the second quarter.
The original Bayanihan to Heal As One Act lapses on June 24, and Bayanihan II has a shelf life until September. Senators tried to sift through provisions on Wednesday to ensure that the responses take into consideration this timeline.
The Bayanihan II is broken down, in the Senate version, into these key responses to the health and economic crisis, as amended: Emergency subsidies, P15 billion; Prevention and control of other diseases, P10 billion; Capital infusion to government financial institutions (GFIS), P50 billion; Support programs for impacted sectors, P17 billion; Support to agriculture sector, P17 billion; Assistance to transportation sector, P17 billion; Assistance to tourism, P10 billion; Smart campuses, P3 billion; Tesda training, P1 billion.
The total package was reduced from P157 billion to 140 billion after senators worked overnight on Tuesday to introduce amendments to ensure the second relief package has a sharper focus on targeted beneficiaries, amid criticism that millions of ordinary Filipinos deserving of government aid during the quarantine period did not get these.
There were also concerns that many of those to whom banks were supposed to lend money to tide them over during the crisis belonged to the “unbankable” sectors.
House moves on ARISE
THE House of Representatives, meanwhile, will conduct sessions until Friday to approve the remaining anti-covid-19 measures, including the P1.3-trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE).
The chamber was originally set to take a sine die adjournment on June 3, Wednesday.
Besides providing subsidies to businesses, education, agriculture, transportation and tourism, the proposed ARISE also extends the power of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, particularly the provisions on testing, wage subsidies, loan payment extension, assistance programs to their constituent sectors by the Departments of Trade and Industry, of Agriculture and of Labor and Employment, ease of credit rules, health protocols to mitigate transmission, reallocation and realignment of appropriations.
It grants the President authority to realign within six months items that cannot be utilized due to Covid-19, such as travel and forced savings.
The bill also extends the validity of the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts to 2021.
Teachers: Don’t forget us
MEANWHILE, private-school teachers pressed their bid to be included among the beneficiaries of relief measures, saying they were also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as it shuttered schools.
Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones in April had pointed out the matter to lawmakers, and teacher groups on Wednesday asked Congress to ensure their inclusion in the Bayanihan II.
The Ating Guro Party-list urged legislators to include private-school teachers as recipients of government financial help under SB 1564, or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act.
“This bill would rectify the errors committed against private-school employees, because while there was no exemption to teachers and academic workers in private schools from getting assistance packages, most of them were not given any cash aid either by DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] or DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development]. Unfortunately, most of our private schools do not have the capacity to subsidize the salaries of their teachers since they are dependent on tuition and other fees from their clients,” said Juanito Dona Jr., the group’s secretary general.
According to Dona, an initial 119,819 private-school teachers were affected by the pandemic, citing data from the Federation of Associations of Private Schools Administrators survey.
Special session
EARLIER, House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda and House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chairman Rufus Rodriguez urged President Rodrigo Duterte to call for a special session of Congress to pass the economic stimulus plan and other remaining priority bills.
Salceda explained that a delay in the passage of an “adequate” economic recovery plan costs the economy up to P100 billion in new economic activity every week.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, has filed House Bill 6611 urging Congress to extend President Duterte’s emergency powers under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law for three months up to September.
Rodriguez, in his bill filed on May 26, said the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Bayanihan law on March 24 to give the President emergency powers “to respond to the crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“Such powers are good for three months. Unfortunately, two months after the effectivity of the law, the end to the pandemic is not yet in sight. There are still new Covid-19 positive cases being reported every day and the country is not yet fully operating,” he said.
“It is therefore clear that the pandemic will not be over by June 24, 2020. As such, we need to extend the effectivity of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and give the President additional time to address the pandemic,” Rodriguez said.
Besides the proposed ARISE, the chamber is also expected to approve HB 6865, or an Act Mandating the Conduct of Baseline Polymerase Chain Reaction Covid-19 Testing for Vulnerable Members of the Society; and HB 6895, or an Act Amending the Section 3 of the Republic Act 7797, or an Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from 200 Days to not more than 220 Days.
With a report by Claudeth Mocon-ciriaco