Revival of 10K Ayuda Bill urged
CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Sunday proposed the reboot of the aid or ‘10K Ayuda‘ bill for the benefit of other families outside the national capital who are similarly reeling from the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) damage, more so now with the surge in infections apparently from the deadlier Delta variant.
“Rather than push through with the P400-billion Bayanihan to Arise as One (Bayanihan 3) bill, which seemingly has slim, if not nil, Palace support, the House leadership should consider a separate ‘10K Ayuda’ bill to provide instant financial aid to the hardest-hit families across the country other than those living in Metro Manila who are due to receive another round of cash grants starting this week,” Villafuerte said ahead of the distribution of P10.84 billion in cash subsidies to those hit the hardest by the two-week reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila.
Malacañang, through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), last week approved the release of P10.89 billion to grant a P1,000 cash subsidy to nearly 11 million qualified persons belonging to the poorest families affected by the August 6-20 ECQ that the government imposed in the national capital region (NCR) to slow the spread of the more virulent COVID-19 Delta variant.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced before the weekend that the P10.89 billion has already been downloaded to the NCR local government units (LGUs), and that the cash aid—equivalent to P1,000 per qualified individual but at a maximum of P4,000 per household—will be given to the intended beneficiaries beginning later this week.
Following the opening of the third and final regular session of the 18th Congress, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and other House leaders called for the Senate approval of a counterpart to House Bill (HB) No. 9411 or the proposed P401-billion Bayanihan 3 bill, which the House passed in June just before the legislature’s sine die adjournment.
However, Villafuerte broached the revival of the “10K Ayuda” bill, even if it was already consolidated and substituted with HB 9411, now that this P401-billion stimulus package could end up gathering dust in the legislature after Malacañang expressed a lack of interest in supporting this half-baked House-approved measure.
“It’s time to accord Bayanihan 3 the repose it deserves and give the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill a reboot to provide instant financial aid to pandemic-hit Filipinos and, in the process, spur an economic bounce back by boosting household consumption, which accounts for two-thirds of our economy,” Villafuerte said of this measure that proposes a P10,000 grant to every Filipino family or P1,500 per beneficiary, whichever is higher.
Villafuerte said that discussions on the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill, which was authored by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Villafuerte and the other members of the independent majority bloc BTS sa Kongreso, could be reopened at the committee level in the House of Representatives.
He at the same time proposed that the House leadership, rather than put off all of the chamber’s activities during the ECQ period, should initiate informal meetings among House members via Zoom so legislators could take up priority concerns such as the proposed 2022 budget, the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill and other COVID-19 response measures that the Congress might need to consider when committee and plenary sessions resume after the ECQ period.
“This way, we could make better use of our (legislators) time holding informal meetings on exigent concerns via Zoom during this two-week lull in the Congress,” he said.
The ‘10K Ayuda’ measure, originally HB 8597, was consolidated and substituted with HB 9411 in the previous legislative session.
Villafuerte said “the fastest way for the Congress to provide immediate relief in the form of disposable income to pandemic-hit Filipino families is by passing the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill as a separate measure.”
Unlike the P401-billion stimulus package tucked in Bayanihan 3, Villafuerte is optimistic that the ayuda bill has a relatively better chance of winning Palace support as it proposes a smaller amount of P200 billion.
The former deputy speaker for finance said Malacañang and the DBM could bankroll the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill from, among others, savings from, and cost-cutting measures by, government agencies; portions from the balance of the 2020 national budget whose effectivity had been extended to December 2021; and bigger dividend remittances from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
The lead author in the House of both the Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2 laws, Villafuerte said the House needs to thoroughly discuss the ‘10K Ayuda’ bill with the President’s economic team to ensure adequate sources of funding for the measure, and also with supportive senators to work out a version that would eventually win Senate approval.
