House panel OKs P1.5-T stimulus fund; P353.4 B for COVID-19 response

May 27 ------ The House Defeat COVID-19 Adhoc Committee’s Social Amelioration Cluster approved on May 26 a bill seeking to establish the P1.5-trillion COVID-19 Unemployment Reduction Economic Stimulus (CURES) Fund. During a virtual hearing, the House panel, co-chaired by Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez and Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, approved the House leadership-initiated House Bill No. 6709, the proposed CURES Act of 2020, which seeks to create new jobs, protect existing employment-generating activities, and promote the equitable distribution of country’s resources.

Transportation Committee chair and Samar 1st Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento moved for the approval of the bill, principally authored by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. The motion was seconded by Bohol 1st District Rep. Edgar Chatto. “The motion is carried. May I direct the Secretariat now to draft the substitute bill incorporating the approved amendments once submitted and transmit the same to the Defeat COVID-19 Adhoc Committee for its consideration and approval,” Torres-Gomez said.

P353.4 B for COVID-19

As this developed, the government has identified around P353.4 billion in cash allocations to bankroll measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. The funds were sourced from discontinued government programs, special purpose funds, regular agency budget, and trust receipts, President Duterte said in his latest weekly report to Congress on the use of his powers under the Bayanihan law.

Of the P353.4 billion cash allocations, the government drew funds from projects, activities, and programs halted in the 2019 and 2020 national budgets amounting to P246.1 billion. The cash allocations from the regular budget of government agencies reached P9.45 billion. Another funding source for the coronavirus response is the Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), considered budget allocations allocated for specific socio-economic purposes, amounting to P97.836 billion.

The items included the 2020 National Disaster Risk and Reduction and Management Fund, P600 million; 2020 contingent fund, P520.627 million; 2020 Unprogrammed Allocation, P96.717 billion. The government’s Trust Receipts worth P42.793 million also contributed to the pool of funds for the COVID-19 efforts, according to the President.

Source: mb.com.ph