Unused Bayanihan funds likely to return to treasury

MANILA, Philippines — The P18.4-billion unutilized funds under Bayanihan 2 will most likely be returned to the national treasury following President Duterte’s failure to call for a special session of Congress for purposes of extending the funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The deadline is already on June 30. We lack time to hold a special session,” House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez told reporters in an interview yesterday. “There should be a declaration or certification of its urgency,” he said, referring to a bill that is certified urgent.

“So, we have not had that yet. We still even have to get the concurrence of our counterparts in the Senate. That really seems to be a challenge, among many other things,” the Leyte congressman explained.

“Bayanihan 2 was in the agenda during our visit to Malacañang, but we were not able to take that up. There has been no clarity moving forward. It’s looking quite tight. The likelihood of extension is becoming dimmer at this point,” he stressed.

The House passed the measure extending Bayanihan 2 – now House Bill 9538 – on second reading before Congress went on recess last June 4. It proposes to amend Republic Act 11519, which originally extended the availability of Bayanihan 2 funds until June 30 this year.

Congress will resume session on July 26, when President Duterte delivers his sixth and final State of the Nation Address.

Efforts to extend anew the life of Bayanihan 2 until Dec. 31 this year may be put to naught. It was first extended from June 30, 2020 until December 2020, and later from December 2020 until June 30 this year.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chairman of the House of Representatives’ ways and means committee, described it as a “life-or-death decision” as he pushed for the holding of a special session for the purpose of extending anew the law, at least until yearend.

“This is a life-or-death decision for many provinces. We can’t afford a month without contact tracing or with reduced health capacity,” he warned.

According to him, the COVID-19 cases that are now on the rise in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao may surge anew and that funds allocated for health workers and contact tracers, among others, may be rendered inutile.

Salceda lamented that with the looming expiration, funding for the contracts of contact tracers and other human resources for health under the package will also lapse. – Mayen Jaymalin