Senator Risa Hontiveros on the Wednesday, June 9 urged the government to expedite the release of funds under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 , which is set to lapse on this June 30, 2021.
Hontiveros lamented that disbursement of the funds under Bayanihan 2 has been slow.
“Pera na, magiging bato pa. Ilang araw na lang, mag-e-expire na ulit ang pondo, (what was already money turned into stone. The funds will expire in a few days),” Hontiveros pointed out.
“Habang naka tengga yan, parami ng parami ang nangangailangan sa ilalim ng krisis. Kailan pa natin balak gamitin ang perang yan? (While those funds are untapped, more and more people are in need under this crisis. When are we going to use those funds?),” she asked.
So far, the lawmaker noted there is no indication from the Senate leadership that a special session would be held to discuss the measure.
But as of December 2020, Hontiveros noted that the Department of Health (DOH) had only obligated 47 percent of its P12.5-billion allocation under Bayanihan 2, mostly on laboratory testing and hiring of health personnel.
Citing data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), she said the country has so far spent P495,060,547,684 for the pandemic, using Bayanihan 1 and 2. Most of the money went to medical supplies, services, and financial aid.
However, she said that amount is only 75.76 percent percent of the pie and Bayanihan 2 alone still has P127,155,172,328 in unspent funds.
“Kulang na kulang na nga ang Bayanihan 2, hahayaan pang mag-lapse? Bilis-bilisan dapat ang implementation ng mga programa. Kung maaari, bawasan na rin ang napakahabang listahan ng requirements para agarang maibigay ang ayuda (There are so many unobligated items under the Bayanihan 2, and they want it to just lapse? They need to rush the implementation of the programs. And if ever, lessen the long list of requirements to be able to release the financial aid faster),” she added.
She also said the DBM should release the missing reports on Bayanihan 2 to help the government make quicker and clearer decisions on pandemic-related expenditures.
The senator also said she hopes that the missing reports can be evaluated way ahead of budget deliberations for 2022.“Why the need to hold these funds? Hindi ba natin ginagastos nang tama kaya ang dami pa ring natitira? Makikita natin ang sagot kung magsa-submit sila ng pinapangako nilang (Are they not spending it correctly that’s why there are still some funds available? We can only check that if they submit their) weekly reports,” she said.