Marcos prods DOF to seek more sources of funds to stem social unrest
Published Apr 8, 2020 12:00 am
By Mario Casayuran
Senator Imee R. Marcos said on Wednesday the Duterte administration should now immediately identify more sources of funding for cash aid to the poor to prevent social unrest as there is a possibility that the current lockdown might be extended beyond April 30.
Senator Imee Marcos (Senator Imee Marcos Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
As chairwoman of the Senate committee on economic affairs, Marcos estimated that at least P550 billion could still be added to the P200-billion emergency budget now being used for cash aid.
The Department of Finance (DOF) must move quickly to avail itself of loans and take advantage of a window of opportunity that is gradually closing, Marcos said.
She explained that the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis could last months longer to pull down the country’s investment risk ratings and affect bank interest rates on loans.
“Hindi economic target ang dapat natin sagipin ngayon kundi buhay ng tao. Bakit kasi nagkukuripot ang DOF kung marami naman ang pwedeng pagkunan ng pondo?” Marcos said. (What we should save are our countrymen, not economic targets. Why does the DOF scrimp when there are many sources of funding sources?)
Marcos repeated her call made last month that the DOF could borrow about P440 billion, an amount that would still be within a “manageable debt ceiling of 5.4 percent,” from the present 3.2-percent level being maintained by the government.
Additional funds could also be sourced from unused savings from the 2019 national budget, calamity and contingency funds of government departments and agencies like the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), PhilHealth, and the Office of the President (OP).
Reported cases of COVID-19 infection are expected to rise in April, as the Department of Health (DOH) begins to expand its capacity to conduct tests on a larger scale and plot the progress of the pandemic, Marcos said.
“Ngayong Abril pa lang natin malalaman kung ano ang totoong sitwasyon, lalo na ang mga kasong hindi naitala dahil sa dating kakulangan ng mga test kit. Hindi imposible na aabot ng May or June ang lockdown para sa kapakanan ng lahat,” Marcos said. (It is only this April that we will know the real situation because there was a lack of testing kits before. It is not impossible that the lockdown would reach May or June for the benefit of everybody.)
Senator Imee Marcos (Senator Imee Marcos Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
As chairwoman of the Senate committee on economic affairs, Marcos estimated that at least P550 billion could still be added to the P200-billion emergency budget now being used for cash aid.
The Department of Finance (DOF) must move quickly to avail itself of loans and take advantage of a window of opportunity that is gradually closing, Marcos said.
She explained that the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis could last months longer to pull down the country’s investment risk ratings and affect bank interest rates on loans.
“Hindi economic target ang dapat natin sagipin ngayon kundi buhay ng tao. Bakit kasi nagkukuripot ang DOF kung marami naman ang pwedeng pagkunan ng pondo?” Marcos said. (What we should save are our countrymen, not economic targets. Why does the DOF scrimp when there are many sources of funding sources?)
Marcos repeated her call made last month that the DOF could borrow about P440 billion, an amount that would still be within a “manageable debt ceiling of 5.4 percent,” from the present 3.2-percent level being maintained by the government.
Additional funds could also be sourced from unused savings from the 2019 national budget, calamity and contingency funds of government departments and agencies like the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Philippine Charity
Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), PhilHealth, and the Office of the President (OP).
Reported cases of COVID-19 infection are expected to rise in April, as the Department of Health (DOH) begins to expand its capacity to conduct tests on a larger scale and plot the progress of the pandemic, Marcos said.
“Ngayong Abril pa lang natin malalaman kung ano ang totoong sitwasyon, lalo na ang mga kasong hindi naitala dahil sa dating kakulangan ng mga test kit. Hindi imposible na aabot ng May or June ang lockdown para sa kapakanan ng lahat,” Marcos said. (It is only this April that we will know the real situation because there was a lack of testing kits before. It is not impossible that the lockdown would reach May or June for the benefit of everybody.)