SENATE Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Sunday that with the Delta variant posing a bigger threat to the populace, and possibly prolonging the health crisis from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Senate might be open to a Bayanihan 3 to cover for urgent requirements for Covid response.
In a radio interview, Zubiri indicated senators are “keeping an open mind” and added that a Senate caucus might decide to “take up Bayanihan 3 and commit to work overtime” to pass a funding bill.
Senators had been cool to passing a Bayanihan 3, despite the push by certain House leaders, owing to observations of billions in unspent funds under Bayanihan 2.
Zubiri said lawmakers could add P100 billion but would have have hard time passing an additional P400 billion, indicating it is “quite impossible” as it would need borrowing.
He noted that while the DOF was “being careful because we are in a pandemic, (but) no one but government can boost the financing requirements.”
Moreover, the senator suggested that the Duterte government can “utilize the P12-billion unspent for Bayanihan 3 aid to affected sectors,” adding that “we (Congress) can transfer the needed funds.”
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson waded into the issue on “proper spending” of Bayanihan funds.”
“The President (Duterte) got his information all mixed up. I am not the senator who claimed there was underspending under the Bayanihan fund,” Lacson said, adding: “I am quite sure because I don’t have the data on the matter, and I don’t speak without basis. Some other legislators did.”
In a statement, Lacson reminded the Palace that his speech before the Rotary Club last Friday dealt with pre-pandemic budget underspending from 2017 to 2019, on the annual average of P331 billion, “against our yearly gross borrowings of almost P1 trillion during the same period. Nothing to do with Bayanihan.”
Lacson added: “With that said, I cannot emphasize enough the need for the proper spending of our limited resources, regardless of whether these are from the Bayanihan or not.”
The senator noted that “our national debt has ballooned to P11.07 trillion as of end-May. Each one of us, even those newly born, is in debt by P100,000. We must make sure taxpayers’ money will be used judiciously.”