2020 nat'l, Bayanihan 2 budget validity extension measures up for final reading
Facilitating budget validity extension will be the main aim of the House plenary this week as the chamber wraps up its sessions for the tumultuous year 2020.

Information coming from the office of Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said that separate bills seeking to extend the validity of the P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget until Dec. 31, 2021 and the appropriations under the P165.5-billion Bayanihan to Recover As One Act until June 30, 2021 are scheduled to be passed on third and final reading this week.
The former bill is designated as House Bill (HB) No. 6656 while the latter is an unnumbered substitute bill.
The House of Representatives is set to hold sessions from Monday to Wednesday after which the congressmen will go on their annual holiday recess based on their current schedule.
But the 300-member chamber may extend its session until Friday instead of adjourning this Wednesday if President Duterte fails to certify as urgent the substitute bill seeking an extension on the validity of the so-called Bayanihan 2 funds.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Romualdez are among the principal sponsors of the two budget validity extension measures.
“Unfortunately, the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic hit and has overwhelmed the country’s health service, disaster management facilities and information communications and technology (ICT) infrastructure, among many others," Leyte Rep. Romualdez said in justifying the sought extension of the current 2020 national budget.
"The various community quarantines imposed by the national government to mitigate the transmission of the COVID-19 have also hindered economic activity and delayed the implementation of various governmental programs, projects, activities and services,” he added.
Meanwhile, Appropriations Committee chairman ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap said that extended the life of the Bayanihan 2 funds is also needed in order to ensure consistent and efficient delivery of assistance to Filipinos as well as help aid economic recovery.
"We need to extend the validity of Bayanihan 2 to help President Duterte address the pandemic,” Yap said.
The House will resume sessions in the first week of January after this week's adjournment.