Senator Sonny Angara on Wednesday, June 16 said the Senate Committee on Finance will start deliberations on the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill once Congress resumes sessions in July.
Angara, chairman of the Senate finance panel, said July would be the best time to tackle the measure as the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 expires at the end of this month.
“When Congress resumes, we can hear the different measures. It’s the right time to have hearings on Bayanihan 3,” Angara said in a Kapihan sa Manila virtual forum.
He said Congress cannot extend the Bayanihan 2 while sessions in Congress is adjourned. Bayanihan 2 is set to expire in June 30.
The Executive Department said it has only two weeks to obligate all unutilized funds under Bayanihan 2.
However, Angara said the Department of Finance (DOF) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) wants to tackle some provisions included in Bayanihan 3, like the P66-billion budget for testing, maintenance and other operating expenses, additional hiring for the government’s COVID-19 response, separate from the proposed law.
He said he wants to know specifically the reasons why state economic managers want to tackle the health problem separately from the economic stimulus problem.
“A lot of senators want to discuss that together because that’s all part of the COVID-19 response,” he said.
The House of Representatives has approved its version of the Bayanihan 3 bill last June 1. The House’s version of the bill seeks a P401-billion worth of COVID-19 interventions to help Filipinos recover from the pandemic.
In the Senate, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto filed his own version of the bill, seeking a P485-billion appropriation.