Senators agree to hike stimulus fund to P 162B
The Senate has agreed to increase the P140-billion fund it allocated for the government’s economic stimulus program under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan 2), Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Sunday.
Drilon, a member of the bicameral conference committee seeking to reconcile provisions in the Senate and House versions of the proposed Bayanihan 2, said senators agreed to increase the budget they approved by P22 billion.
“Both sides (the Senate and the House of Representatives) agree that maybe we should reach P162 billion. The Senate agrees with that,” Drilon said over dzbb.
The amount of the increase, however, remains fluid because the bicameral conference committee still has to meet on other pending matters. The next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 17.
The Bayanihan 2 bill includes P10 billion for new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing, P15 billion for cash-for-work programs for displaced workers, P17 billion for small business wage subsidy, unemployment and severance benefits, and P50 billion for the government’s loan program.
This is apart from the P17 billion for the agriculture sector, P12 billion for the transportation sector and P10 billion for the tourism industry.
Other proposals include a social amelioration fund for poor families ranging from P5,000 to P8,000, and a one-time cash assistance to private school teachers.
The measure includes a
P15,000 cash aid for health workers who contracted COVID-19 with mild symptoms; P100,000 for severe cases; and P1 million for those who died of the disease.
The lawmakers also approved a provision temporarily suspending requirements for certain permits in constructing telecommunications towers for the next three years.
The government is banking on the passage of the Bayanihan 2 and the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 and the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program to revive the economy, which slipped into recession as a result of the pandemic.
The Senate approved its version of Bayanihan 2 in July while the House of Representatives approved its counterpart measure in August.
But that was before the release of production data showing that the country fell into recession for the first time in 29 years with a record slump in the second quarter amid strict lockdown measures.
Official data showed that gross domestic product (GDP) tumbled 16.5 percent in AprilJune from a year earlier—the biggest slump since comparable GDP data was first recorded in 1981—after falling a revised 0.7 percent in the first quarter.
Domestic demand and business investment were severely hit, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed, while the government was now forecasting the biggest annual drop in GDP since 1985 this year.
The Philippines was among Asia’s fastest growing economies before the pandemic, but now the government expects its GDP to shrink 5.5 percent this year— the biggest annual drop in 35 years—from a previous forecast for a 2.0-3.4 percent decline. The government sees the economy rebounding in 2021 and 2022.