Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte has filed a bill that seeks to further extend the validity and effectivity of the "Bayanihan to Recover as One" Act, or Bayanihan 2 until December 31 this year.
Villafuerte said this would enable the government to continue implementing its recovery and stimulus measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the people, amid the new surge in the virus caseload that already breached the one-million mark.
The Bayanihan 2 or Republic Act (RA) No. 11494, which originally was set to lapse on December 19 last year, was extended through RA 11519 up to June 30, 2021. It appropriated P165.5 billion to augment the government's COVID-19 response and recovery porgrams.
“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,” Villafuerte said in filing House Bill (HB) No. 9196.
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.