P29.7B need for new round of ayuda
THE government will need up to P29.7 billion to fund another round of the social amelioration program (SAP) or ayuda if the provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon are declared to be under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) together with the National Capital Region, a House leader said.
Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairman of the House committee on ways and means, said his projection of P29.7 billion was based on President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s pronouncement of giving P1,000 per person is followed.
“The Palace gave the reassurance that there will be no ECQ without ayuda. President Duterte already said his administration will give P1,000 per head. For NCR and Calabarzon combined, that’s P29.7 billion,” Salceda said.
“If we follow the scheme proposed by the economic managers, which is targeted towards 80% of households, we need P21.6 billion,” Salceda added.
The tax chair noted that there “may be enough cash that can be tapped because, when we talked about the option of increasing required dividends from GOCCs (government-owned and controlled corporations) from 50% to 75%, I estimated the intake from that to be P27 billion.”
“That is not to say we should just go with it and declare an ECQ. I would be very circumspect about declaring an ECQ, particularly since new jobs are still very vulnerable and prices are still unstable due to food and transport,” Salceda added.
“But, if we had to, we have enough for two weeks. The question is what happens next,” Salceda also said.
BAYANIHAN 3 NEEDED TO FIGHT DELTA VARIANT
“For succeeding rounds of ECQ, we might not have the authority to give aid even if there is money, which is also not guaranteed for other lockdowns. The government can require GOCC dividends or even borrow, but I don’t know where we will ‘house’ them under the budget, since all spending requires some form of authorization,” Salceda said.
“Remember that the appropriations for both Bayanihan 1 and 2 have already lapsed. So, there is very little room left in the 2021 budget to move around and reallocate,” Salceda added.
“I think we will still need Bayanihan 3. Just to make sure we have a house for further ayuda,” Salceda recommended.
“I also think we need to make less expensive investments than lockdowns, but are more efficient. One most glaring example is that the Philippine Genome Center is asking for P100 million to expand genome sequencing to Visayas and Mindanao. That’s very crucial now that we’re dealing with variants,” Salceda said.
“And we do not have a house for that under the current budget. And we can’t wait until 2022 to have this funded. So, we still need some form of emergency or supplemental appropriations. It’s not yet stimulus. We just have needs like this that we do not have the budgetary authorization to meet yet,” Salceda added.
“There will be more Delta cases. The question is whether we will allow ourselves to go the catastrophic direction of our neighbors, or we will fund the necessary responses. Bayanihan 3 is the correct answer to that question,” Salceda concluded.
