A GROUP of Bicolano legislators led by Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte has proposed a P1.5-trillion, three-year economic stimulus program that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) may implement in the first half of his term to create millions of sustainable jobs and accelerate the Philippines’ recovery from the unparalleled global crisis spawned by the lingering coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Villafuerte said he and three other legislators from Camarines Sur have filed House Bill (HB) No. 271 or the National Economic Stimulus and Recovery Act of 2022, in support of President Marcos’ “comprehensive all-inclusive plan for economic transformation” –as stated in his inaugural speech last June 30 – and his commitment to continue the massive infrastructure program started by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

President Marcos further said in his June 30 speech that “President Duterte built more and better than all the administrations succeeding my father’s (the late President Marcos Sr.)… following these giants steps, we will continue to build. I will complete on schedule the projects that have been started… we will be presenting the public with a comprehensive infrastructure plan… no part of our country will be neglected.”

The other authors of HB 271 are Camarines Sur Reps. Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Miguel Luis Villafuerte, and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII.

Villafuerte said this proposed P1.5-trillion stimulus package will let President Marcos sustain the “unmatched” high spending on infrastructure development initiated by his predecessor, Mr. Duterte, “but this time, such investments will be focused on building and improving facilities for ‘HEAL IT’, which stands for Health, Education, Agriculture, Livelihood, Information Technology (IT) and Tourism.”

Under HB 271, its four authors said that government infrastructure spending should be primarily geared towards maximizing the direct and indirect creation and sustaining of jobs, particularly in the countryside.

“Anchored on the premise that the poor are provided employment and income-earning opportunities, this measure will prioritize the funding of projects that target infrastructure building down to the barangay level,” they said.

They said such huge infrastructure projects shall be undertaken in conjunction with the “Balik Probinsiya Program,” which, said Villafuerte, was designed (1) to stimulate growth in the countryside through rural infrastructure investments that create plenty of jobs and (2) to ease urban congestion by encouraging jobseekers to stay put in their localities and for workers in urban areas or overseas to return home and work in their provinces.

“Infrastructure shall be the backbone of our economy following the insight of almost all respected economists and recognized policymakers. Therefore, although palliative measures such as cash transfers, unemployment dole-outs, relief, and other forms of immediate amelioration support are undoubtedly necessary now, it is in the interest of the government, the private sector, and the Filipino people at large that a lasting cure for economic resilience be established,” they stressed.

HB 271 seeks the creation of a “special fund” – to be known as National Economic Stimulus and Recovery Fund (Recovery Fund) – that shall be disbursed primarily for implementing infrastructure projects across the six priority areas under HEAL IT.

This Recovery Fund’s budget for approved projects shall be automatically released to the implementing unit to facilitate the start-up and completion of projects and remove existing regulations and issuances that would impede the same.

Of the proposed P1.5-trillion appropriation for the three-year Recovery Fund, P500 billion shall be released in the first year of this measure’s approval, another P500 billion in the second year, and P500 billion more in the third and final year.

After three years, Congress shall enact new legislation extending or modifying the same or terminating the fund.

In the latter case, the unobligated balance shall be made available for the general budgetary requirements of the year succeeding its termination.

HB 271 proposes the establishment of an Executive Cluster Committee to formulate the guidelines for the Recovery Fund’s use, and that will have the Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs as chairperson, the Secretaries of Public Works and Finance as co-vice chairpersons, and the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as secretariat head.

This proposed Executive Cluster Committee shall periodically compile all the reports of the implementing department/agencies and shall submit, within 25 days at the end of every semester, to the Office of the President (OP) plus the offices of the Senate President and the Speaker, a semestral report of the status of the projects funded by the Recovery Fund.

In their bill, the four lawmakers said that with the country’s growth rate falling to -9.5% in 2020 and 5.6% in 2021, “The recovery of the domestic economy will ride on the back of sustained government spending across all sectors with a focus on new private and public infrastructure works that the Marcos administration will propel with the ‘BBM’ [Bayan Bangon Muli] flagship program.”