Bayan Muna Party-list solons under the militant Makabayan bloc wants a House probe into the unused P4.99-billion loans for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that was provided by the "Bayanihan 2" Law.
On March 2, The Commission on Audit (COA) reported that as of June 30, 2021, around P4.99 billion in loans meant for MSMEs had not been distributed by the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp.), a financing branch of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Bayan Muna Reps. Eufemia Cullamat, Carlos Zarate, and Ferdinand gaite filed House Bill (HB) 2519 dated March 13 to request the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to investigate the unutilized Bayanihan 2 funds.
“The SB Corp. submitted a comment to the COA stating that as of December 31, 2021, it had already utilized all funds under its sole control such as the CARES1 program with P1-B and the Bayanihan CARES from multisectoral MSMEs,” HB 2519 reads.
“While the COA acknowledged that P6.28 billion of funds under the CARES program of Bayanihan 2 had been released by December 31, 2021, it also pointed out that this was beyond the cut-off date for audit which was on June 30, 2021,” the bill continued.
"Parang umabuso na naman ang Department of Budget and Management (DBM) dito. Kasi ang ipinasa ng Congress na law extends the validity of Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (BARO) funds only up to June 30, 2021 (It’s as if the DBM abused the situation. The law passed by Congress extends the validity of BARO funds only up to June 30, 2021),” Zarate said in a press statement on Thursday, March 17.
Zarate further explained that any leftover funds would be returned to one general fund.
“Pero sa (But according to the) DBM website, as of end of Dec. 2021, fully disbursed na ng SB Corp. ang P8.08B (SB Corp. fully disbursed ther P8.08B)," he noted, insinuating that the DBM’s claims run counter to the COA’s report of P4.99 billion being left stagnant.
"This matter needs some deeper digging into. Lalo pa at ang pondo ay pwede pa sanang ipang-ayuda sa mga mamamayan sa halip na ang insultong P200/month lang ang ibibigay (Especially that the funds can still be used as financial aid to citizens, instead of the insulting P200 a month subsidy)," he concluded.
Zarate was referring to the P200 monthly subsidy recommended by the Department of Finance (DOF) and adopted by the executive department as a reprieve to the bottom 50 percent of Filipino families amid the fuel price crisis. This recommendation also includes the retention of fuel excise tax.