House committee recommends extension of Bayanihan 2 law to December 30, 2021
The House of Representatives appropriations committee on Friday approved a committee report extending Bayanihan 2 from June 30, 2021 to December 30, 2021 to afford various government agencies time to complete COVID19-related programs under a P140 billion regular appropriation and a P25 billion standby fund.
Bayanihan 2 was approved on September 11, 2020 and its expiry date is December 19, 2020. Expiration of the first extension is June 30, 2021.
After two hours of public hearing, the committee chaired by Rep. Eric Go Yap eventually approved a committee report recommending the approval of House Bills 9196 and 9356 extending the effectivity of Bayanihan 2 (Republic Act 114294) up to December 30, 2021.
The committee report has to be passed by the Lower House in plenary session. It will later be transmitted to the Senate.
Both legislative chambers are scheduled to go on a sine die adjournment on June 4.
Since the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is operating under a cash-based budgeting, allocations not spent shall revert back to the general fund at the end of the fiscal year. This holds true to obligated funds not spent.
This DBM stand defeated a proposal of Representative Paul Daza to allow the disbursement of obligated funds until March 2022.
The DBM said it has released all the P140 billion regular appropriations and P25 billion standby fund to different government agencies.
What worried congressmen was whether concerned government agencies would be able to disburse their appropriations 100 percent before the December 2021 expiry date.
When asked, officials of these various government officials replied ‘Yes’’ to a query whether they could finish their projects and disburse their funds before the deadline.
These departments are on Agriculture, on Health, on Trade and Industry, on Social Welfare and Development and on Transportation.
Consolidation and enactment of these bills into law, according to Deputy Speaker Rufuis Rodriguez, would be ‘’for the good of the country and to give more time for these agencies to do their job.’’