Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Thursday urged the Small Business Corporation (SBCorp) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) to utilize the unspent funds from Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 to help the Philippine tourism industry restart activities after a two-year slump due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance said a significant amount of funds appropriated for tourism under the Bayanihan 2 is still unutilized and which could help revive the industry being one of the hardest hit sectors since the pandemic started in March 2020.
SBCorp earlier divulged that a total P4-billion was allocated under Bayanihan 2 for the provision of low-interest loans to the tourism sector. But in a recent statement, SBCorp said only P278-million worth of loans to the tourism sector have been approved as of February 28, 2022 while another P524-million are “in the pipeline for processing.”
Angara said many industry players were hesitant to avail of loans, and which was understandable given that many tourist establishments would not want to resume operations while quarantine classifications are constantly changing.
“But now that more people are vaccinated and the number of COVID cases has gone down, the country has opened its doors to both foreign and domestic tourism,” Angara said in a statement.
“The barely utilized loan facility will help jumpstart the operations of the tourism players in anticipation of the influx of arrivals,” added Angara.
Angara noted that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has already eased the rules regarding foreign tourist arrivals by allowing fully-vaccinated individuals to enter the country.
The governmnet now allows the entry of unvaccinated tourists as long as they can present a negative Covid-19 test, including a laboratory-based antigen test taken within 24 hours before their departure from their country of origin.
Under Bayanihan 2, which expired in June 30, 2021, a total of P10-billion was provided to SBCorp in capital infusion for the provision of low-interest loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the tourism sector.
While other funds under the law are no longer available for use after its expiration, Angara explained that the unutilized amounts provided to SBCorp are still available since they now form part of the capital of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-supervised firm.
Of the P10-billion that was allocated by Congress to SBCorp under Bayanihan 2, only P8.08-billion was released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), out of which P7.93-billion was for the loan program for MSMEs and the tourism sector.
“The revival of the tourism sector after a two-year slump will go a long way in uplifting the lives of its workers, restoring the revenue streams of the local government units and reviving the economy as a whole,” the senator said.
“We encourage the SBCorp and the DOT to reach out to the operators who need assistance and to streamline the process in accepting and approving loans so that they can resume normal operations at the soonest possible time,” Angara stressed.