Senate extends 2020 GAA, Bayanihan 2 validity

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate yesterday approved the extension of the validity of the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 to allow the government to spend more in 2021 to address the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the country’s economy.

Approved on third and final reading were House Bills 6656 and 8063, which President Duterte had certified as urgent. The certification dispensed with the three-day rule in passing bills on second reading, and third and final reading to allow the quick passage of the measures.

Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on finance, sponsored the committee reports on the two bills, which are expected to be ratified today, the last day of session of Congress.

“COVID-19 has disrupted our lives. We’ve had to change how we work, how we study, how we interact with each other and how we purchase our necessities, among others. Government agencies were not spared, as they, too, had to adjust – foregoing plans and programs for the sake of the COVID-19 response,” Angara said.

“But now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, it is time to think about how we should restart, rebuild and recover. By extending the availability of the 2020 budget and the Bayanihan 2 funds, we are opening a wider window for the country to return to its original path to growth and development,” he added.

The effectivity of Bayanihan 2 was extended to June 30, 2021, while the 2020 GAA will be until the end of next year. Being a law that granted Duterte emergency authority, Bayanihan 2 is expiring on Dec. 19 or when Congress adjourns session.

Under the 2020 GAA, Angara said around P110 billion or roughly four percent of the P2.84 trillion in programmed appropriations has yet to be released as of the end of last month.

The senator explained that it would be extremely difficult for the agencies concerned to submit the required documents and secure the necessary approvals under the cash-based budgeting system, so whatever amounts are left unutilized at the end of the year would automatically revert to the National Treasury.

In the case of Bayanihan 2, Angara said P38 billion or 23 percent of the P140 billion in regular appropriations and P25.52 billion in standby funds has yet to be released as of Dec. 11.

“These unreleased balances add up to P148 billion, which is no small amount. Allowing these appropriations to lapse, amid a pandemic and a recession, would have significant impacts,” he added.

Included in the untouched allocation in Bayanihan 2, according to the senator, was P10 billion intended for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. If the law was not extended, the amount would be returned to the National Treasury.

Some P100 million intended for the salaries, hazard duty pay and special allowances for medical frontliners hired under the Department of Health’s Emergency Human Resources for Health program would also be hampered if the extension of Bayanihan 2 was not realized.

The assistance to distressed micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs through the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises or CARES program of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Small Business Corporation amounting to some P1.92 billion would also lapse.

In education, around P60.7 billion of funds under the budget of the Department of Education are at risk of lapsing by Dec. 31, unless this year’s GAA is extended, Angara said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said the extensions should lead to more government spending next year that should help the country recover from recession.

Recto said extending the two laws would add at least P150 billion to the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 that is expected to be signed by Duterte before the end of the year.

“What would we rather have? No extension and the government would spend less in 2021. It would be more difficult for the economy to recover if the government spent less. The government is 25 percent of the total economy,” Recto told ANC.

“The private sector will not be making those investments, which we need. And it is incumbent upon the government, who has the balance sheet, to do the spending,” he added.

The 10 percent contraction of the economy was partly because many provisions in the 2020 GAA were unimplemented, according to the senator.

He said revenues as well as borrowings that should be funding this year’s budget is already with the National Treasury as he continued to lament agencies’ dismal disbursing capacity that causes government underspending.

“The money is already with us, the borrowing is already with us. In fact, you have more than P1 trillion or more in cash. So there is money available, that is not a problem… So the appropriations are there, might as well extend it,” Recto said.

He added that if he had his way, the government should be spending at least an additional P.5 trillion more in 2021.

The senator noted how the government had been way off in its projections, saying the economy would only contract by two percent in the second quarter that turned out to be closer to six percent. –  Edu Punay