Gov't identifies P353.4B cash allocation to bankroll COVID measures
Published May 26, 2020 12:00 am
By Genalyn Kabiling
The government has identified around P353.4 billion in cash allocations to bankroll measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.
(Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
The funds were sourced from discontinued government programs, special purpose funds, regular agency budget, and trust receipts, President Duterte said in his latest weekly report to Congress on the use of his powers under the Bayanihan law.
Of the P353.4 billion cash allocations, the government drew funds from projects, activities, and programs halted in the 2019 and 2020 national budgets amounting to P246.1 billion.
The cash allocations from the regular budget of government agencies reached P9.45 billion.
Another funding source for the coronavirus response is the Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), considered budget allocations allocated for specific socio-economic purposes, amounting to P97.836 billion. The items included the 2020 National Disaster Risk and Reduction and Management Fund, P600 million; 2020 contingent fund, P520.627 million; 2020 Unprogrammed Allocation, P96.717 billion.
The government's Trust Receipts worth P42.793 million also contributed to the pool of funds for the COVID-19 efforts, according to the President.
The President's report also showed the cash allocations released to several departments to cover coronavirus-related programs, namely the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P199.9 billion; Department of Labor and Employment, P7.56 billion; Department of Health, P48.1 billion; Department of Finance, P88 billion; Department of Agriculture, P8.5 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government, P613 million; Department of National Defense, P481 million; Department of Justice, P41 million; Department of Trade and Industry, P78 million, Department of Science and Technology, P54.9 million; and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, P21.6 million.
As of 21 May 2020, Duterte said no additional releases were made out of the total government savings. No additional releases were also made out of reprogrammed, reallocated, and realigned funds of departments/agencies.
The government also has not made additional releases from the Unprogrammed Appropriations pooled from the excess revenue from actual dividend collections of government owned and controlled corporations remitted to the national government.
Bayanihan Grant
In the same report, the President released the fund liquidation reports from 19 local government units for P397.065 million spent under the Bayanihan Grant program.
The local government units spent most of the Bayanihan funds on food assistance and other relief items for affected households at P236 million, and procurement of hospital equipment at P86 million.
Duterte said the breakdown represented only 1.07 percent of the total Bayanihan Grants released to provinces, cities, and municipalities.
He said the Department of Budget and Management has directed its regional offices to ensure the submission of the required fund utilization reports to generate data for forward planning during the pandemic.
The DBM had earlier released P6.197 billion for the one-time Bayanihan Grant or financial assistance to provinces to help deal with the pandemic. At least P30.8 billion was released to cover the funding for the Bayanihan grant to cities and municipalities for its COVID response programs. The Bayanihan funds must only be used for healthcare efforts and other measures to help address the coronavirus pandemic.
(Jansen Romero / MANILA BULLETIN)
The funds were sourced from discontinued government programs, special purpose funds, regular agency budget, and trust receipts, President Duterte said in his latest weekly report to Congress on the use of his powers under the Bayanihan law.
Of the P353.4 billion cash allocations, the government drew funds from projects, activities, and programs halted in the 2019 and 2020 national budgets amounting to P246.1 billion.
The cash allocations from the regular budget of government agencies reached P9.45 billion.
Another funding source for the coronavirus response is the Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), considered budget allocations allocated for specific socio-economic purposes, amounting to P97.836 billion. The items included the 2020 National Disaster Risk and Reduction and Management Fund, P600 million; 2020 contingent fund, P520.627 million; 2020 Unprogrammed Allocation, P96.717 billion.
The government's Trust Receipts worth P42.793 million also contributed to the pool of funds for the COVID-19 efforts, according to the President.
The President's report also showed the cash allocations released to several departments to cover coronavirus-related programs, namely the Department of Social Welfare and Development, P199.9 billion; Department of Labor and Employment, P7.56 billion; Department of Health, P48.1 billion; Department of Finance, P88 billion; Department of Agriculture, P8.5 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government, P613 million; Department of National Defense, P481 million; Department of Justice, P41 million; Department of Trade and Industry, P78 million, Department of Science and Technology, P54.9 million; and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, P21.6 million.
As of 21 May 2020, Duterte said no additional releases were made out of the total government savings. No additional releases were also made out of reprogrammed, reallocated, and realigned funds of departments/agencies.
The government also has not made additional releases from the Unprogrammed Appropriations pooled from the excess revenue from actual dividend collections of government owned and controlled corporations remitted to the national government.
Bayanihan Grant
In the same report, the President released the fund liquidation reports from 19 local government units for P397.065 million spent under the Bayanihan Grant program.
The local government units spent most of the Bayanihan funds on food assistance and other relief items for affected households at P236 million, and procurement of hospital equipment at P86 million.
Duterte said the breakdown represented only 1.07 percent of the total Bayanihan Grants released to provinces, cities, and municipalities.
He said the Department of Budget and Management has directed its regional offices to ensure the submission of the required fund utilization reports to generate data for forward planning during the pandemic.
The DBM had earlier released P6.197 billion for the one-time Bayanihan Grant or financial assistance to provinces to help deal with the pandemic. At least P30.8 billion was released to cover the funding for the Bayanihan grant to cities and municipalities for its COVID response programs. The Bayanihan funds must only be used for healthcare efforts and other measures to help address the coronavirus pandemic.