Lawmaker seeks another round of cash aid

MANILA, Philippines — A former House leader yesterday pushed for a third round of cash aid to poor families amid the continuing economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Former deputy speaker and Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte cited the need for another round of social amelioration program (SAP) as the country continues to experience record job losses and faster food price hikes that affect low-income households.

He specifically called for a higher subsidy of P10,000 per beneficiary through the proposed Bangon Pamilyang Pilipino (BPP) assistance program.

“A third round of cash subsidies to highly vulnerable households would let government pare the number of families now in danger of falling back to poverty amid the confluence of high food prices, rising unemployment, a prolonged recession and prospects for a slow economic recovery,” Villafuerte explained.

“The proposed BPP cash subsidy of P10,000 per beneficiary-family would enable poor and low-income households to buy their basic food and non-food needs, hence boosting household income and domestic consumption that would help quicken economic recovery from the coronavirus-driven global recession,” he stressed.

He believes the BPP program would help address poverty incidence in the country, citing a recent study by the state-run think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) showing that last year’s SAP under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1) prevented the poverty incidence from climbing to 18.3 percent – or about 4.54 million families – after declining to 12 percent in 2018.

Due to the pandemic, poverty rate in the country would have jumped to 24.3 percent or 25.65 million Filipinos from 16.7 percent or 17.67 million people in the previous year.?But due to the two rounds of SAP cash grants to families and the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) to families under Bayanihan 1, the PIDS study estimated a slower jump in poverty last year to 14.1 percent or 3.48 million households and 19.8 percent or 20.91 million individuals in the entire population.

Villafuerte further cited the preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2020 Annual Estimates of Labor Force Survey that showed the joblessness rate soaring to a 15-year high last year of 10.3 percent, equivalent to 4.5 million unemployed Filipinos, from 5.1 percent in 2019.

“It behooves the Congress to write new legislation providing for a third round of cash grants to prevent more families from becoming poor and hungry amid the pandemic,” Villafuerte argued.

The congressman said that funds for the proposed BPP subsidy of P10,000 per beneficiary-family are available under unutilized appropriations and unobligated funds in the national budget.

The congressman said the government recently reported around P452 billion in unutilized funds from the 2020 national budget and P204 million in its unobligated cash balance.

He said the proposed BPP subsidy could be sourced from these unutilized and unobligated funds, which are under the 2020 and 2021 appropriations laws.