A VETERAN Bicolano lawmaker has filed a bill further extending the validity and effectivity of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) until end-December this year.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said this will enable the government to continue implementing its recovery and stimulus measures to mitigate the impact of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) on the economy and the people, amid the new surge in the virus caseload that already breached this week the 1-million mark.

The Bayanihan 2 or Republic Act (RA) No. 11494, which originally set to lapse on December 19 last year, was first extended through RA 11519 up to June 30, 2021, said Villafuerte, lead proponent in the House of RA 11494 and an author of the law—RA 11519—that first extended Bayanihan 2 before it was to expire when the Congress adjourned in December 2020.

“With those overwhelming recorded numbers, the continuing community transmission is rampant and the availability of vaccines for herd immunity is still far-fetched. Hence, the country coming to an end from this public health crisis is yet improbable and unforeseeable. There still persists a threat not only to the people’s livelihood but most importantly to every Filipino’s precious life,” said Villafuerte in seeking an additional extension period for Bayanihan 2’s effectivity through House Bill (HB) No. 9196.

Villafuerte said the extension “shall give the government the opportunity to continuously implement the recovery and stimulus programs specified in the Bayanihan 2, most especially in allocating funds for more essential and relevant expenses necessary to recover from the distressing effects of this global pandemic.”

His proposal to extend Bayanihan 2 also covers the powers and authorities provided under this law that enabled the government to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable groups and individuals, expand medical resources to fight COVID-19, and finance emergency initiatives to keep the economy afloat amid the global shock unleashed by the pandemic.

Villafuerte was also an author of RA 11520 that extended the affectivity of the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA) until December 31, 2021.

Under HB 9196, the balances of fund transfers between agencies, instrumentalities and government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), which, while obligated, remain unused, unutilized, unexpended, and undisbursed as of December 31, 2021, shall revert to the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund.

“Agency outsourcing requests or agreements by agencies, instrumentalities and/or government-owned and -controlled corporations with Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) shall not be allowed. Any balances of fund transfers in the books of the PITC shall revert to the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund upon effectivity of this Act,” HB 9196 likewise states.

Earlier, Villafuerte called on the Department of Health (DoH), Interagency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF) and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) to give updates on the projects supposed to have been funded under Bayanihan 2 to contain the prolonged pandemic.

Villafuerte has called on these offices to report the status of projects ostensibly funded by the Congress under Bayanihan 2, such as those for the establishment of temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) and the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPEs), face masks and other medical supplies necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Villafuerte wants to find out, in particular, the status of the fund releases and implementation of the P4.5-billion appropriations under Bayanihan 2 for the construction and maintenance of isolation facilities, including the billings of hotels, food and transportation used for the Covid-19 response and recovery program by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).

Under the law’s regular appropriations, Villafuerte said the government should also provide an update on the P13.5 billion allocated for health-related responses, such as the continuous employment and additional human resource for health or HRH, DOH hospitals operations, special risk allowance for public and private healthcare workers or HCW, hazard pay, free life insurance and other benefits, and the P3 billion for the procurement of face masks, PPEs, shoe covers and other necessary medical supplies for health frontliners.

Villafuerte also called on the DoH to report on its use of its P10-billion appropriation under Bayanihan 2 for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

He had also taken the DoH to task for failing to take steps to speed up the release of PPEs for the country’s doctors, nurses and other healthcare frontliners despite a P3-billion allotment in the Bayanihan 2 law for such purpose.

The Camarines Sur lawmaker said it was almost a “criminal neglect” for DOH officials to have taken “their own sweet time” in acquiring PPEs when such protective gears are crucial to these frontliners’ day-to-day efforts to treat COVID-positive patients and save their own lives as well.

Villafuerte pointed out that the Congress allocated P3 billion last year in Bayanihan 2 for the procurement PPEs in anticipation of any supply shortage that may happen in the event of emergencies such as the latest surge in infections.