Bayanihan Act implementation will follow Constitution - PRRD
Published Mar 25, 2020 12:00 am
By Genalyn Kabiling
President Duterte is committed to follow the Constitution in carrying out the additional powers granted by Congress to contain the COVID-19 Malacañang said Wednesday.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) The commitment not to abuse his authority was made after he signed Republic Act No. 11469 also known as “Bayanihan To Heal As One Act”. "The Filipino people are assured that the President shall exercise the said powers strictly in accordance with the Constitution with the goal of putting a stop to the spread of the coronavirus and save the Filipino people from imminent death,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. Under the law, Panelo said the President can implement measures to prevent or suppress the transmission and spread of COVID-19, including the power to facilitate the immediate testing of persons under investigation and monitoring, as well as to direct establishments to house health workers, serve as quarantine areas, or relief and aid distribution venues. Financial allowance, hazard pay and compensation may also be extended to frontliners and health workers under the Bayanihan measure. The President can also direct public transportation to ferry them to and from their workplaces, according to Panelo. He said the President is also authorized to expedite the procurement of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment, exempt the importation of equipment needed to combat the spread of COVID-19 from duties, taxes and other fees. The President is also empowered to ensure that there will be no delays in the donation, acceptance and distribution of health items, and liberalize the grant of incentives for the manufacture and importation of critical and needed equipment. The Bayanihan law also allows the President to authorize alternative working arrangements for workers, and regulate and limit the operation of transportation and traffic, including ensuring that local government units are acting in accordance with the law. According to Panelo, the President is authorized to provide subsidies to low-income households, implement an expanded and enhanced Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to respond to the needs affected by the community quarantine, ensure availability of credit to productive sectors, reschedule deadlines for the filing of government requirements, and order a grace period on paying residential rents or loans. The law also allows the President to enforce measures against hoarding, price manipulation, combinations in restraint of trade or other pernicious practices, and ensure the availability of essential goods, such as food and medicine, and adequate supply of power, fuel, energy and water. The President can also undertake the procurement of particular goods and services, as the need arises, in the most expeditious manner, and reallocate or realign from savings to address and respond to the national emergency, Panelo said. The new law is effective immediately upon its publication and shall remain in force for three months. The President is also mandated to submit a weekly report of all acts performed thereunder to Congress, which shall establish an oversight committee. "There are penal provisions found in the law for those who violate the provisions therein," Panelo added. Panelo also extended the President's gratitude to Congress for the passage of the Bayanihan measure during the special session. He also echoed the President's salute to doctors and health workers who are "frontliner heroes who have placed their lives on the line, even as we mourn for those who have sacrificed their lives just so they could attend and treat the patients afflicted with COVID-19." "We urge our countrymen to act and move as one nation to slay this scourge of a dragon that imperils our very existence," he said. "As the President aptly said in his televised message, 'Let us set aside our differences and work in solidarity to overcome this pandemic. We only have one common enemy and that is COVID-19,'" he added.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) The commitment not to abuse his authority was made after he signed Republic Act No. 11469 also known as “Bayanihan To Heal As One Act”. "The Filipino people are assured that the President shall exercise the said powers strictly in accordance with the Constitution with the goal of putting a stop to the spread of the coronavirus and save the Filipino people from imminent death,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. Under the law, Panelo said the President can implement measures to prevent or suppress the transmission and spread of COVID-19, including the power to facilitate the immediate testing of persons under investigation and monitoring, as well as to direct establishments to house health workers, serve as quarantine areas, or relief and aid distribution venues. Financial allowance, hazard pay and compensation may also be extended to frontliners and health workers under the Bayanihan measure. The President can also direct public transportation to ferry them to and from their workplaces, according to Panelo. He said the President is also authorized to expedite the procurement of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment, exempt the importation of equipment needed to combat the spread of COVID-19 from duties, taxes and other fees. The President is also empowered to ensure that there will be no delays in the donation, acceptance and distribution of health items, and liberalize the grant of incentives for the manufacture and importation of critical and needed equipment. The Bayanihan law also allows the President to authorize alternative working arrangements for workers, and regulate and limit the operation of transportation and traffic, including ensuring that local government units are acting in accordance with the law. According to Panelo, the President is authorized to provide subsidies to low-income households, implement an expanded and enhanced Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to respond to the needs affected by the community quarantine, ensure availability of credit to productive sectors, reschedule deadlines for the filing of government requirements, and order a grace period on paying residential rents or loans. The law also allows the President to enforce measures against hoarding, price manipulation, combinations in restraint of trade or other pernicious practices, and ensure the availability of essential goods, such as food and medicine, and adequate supply of power, fuel, energy and water. The President can also undertake the procurement of particular goods and services, as the need arises, in the most expeditious manner, and reallocate or realign from savings to address and respond to the national emergency, Panelo said. The new law is effective immediately upon its publication and shall remain in force for three months. The President is also mandated to submit a weekly report of all acts performed thereunder to Congress, which shall establish an oversight committee. "There are penal provisions found in the law for those who violate the provisions therein," Panelo added. Panelo also extended the President's gratitude to Congress for the passage of the Bayanihan measure during the special session. He also echoed the President's salute to doctors and health workers who are "frontliner heroes who have placed their lives on the line, even as we mourn for those who have sacrificed their lives just so they could attend and treat the patients afflicted with COVID-19." "We urge our countrymen to act and move as one nation to slay this scourge of a dragon that imperils our very existence," he said. "As the President aptly said in his televised message, 'Let us set aside our differences and work in solidarity to overcome this pandemic. We only have one common enemy and that is COVID-19,'" he added.