LAWMAKERS on Wednesday demanded a full accounting of the funds for Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said funds for Bayanihan 2 expired on June 30, with billions still to be obligated.
Based on Department of Budget and Management data, Zarate said the Bayanihan 1 and 2 fund releases and disbursements had a remaining amount of P217.2 billion as of April 15, 2021.
“Just the other day the DBM said that only P9 billion remains to be obligated under Bayanihan 2 but with the government’s low capacity to disburse and obligate, and a persistent showing of such absorptive capacity, we want to know how an amount of more than P200 billion was used in less than three months. The people must know where these public funds go,” said the progressive solon.
“Add to this the fact that there is a National Budget Circular 586 trying to collect the expected savings from the FY 2020 GAA from agencies,” Zarate added.
The lawmaker said NBC 586 covers released allotments under the FY 2020 GAA which remain unobligated until May 15, 2021, but not expressly earmarked for the implementation of programs/activities/projects addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Without proper accounting, we cannot blame the people for thinking that this administration is trying to create an enormous war chest in the run-up for the 2022 elections,” said Zarate.
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda has also expressed alarm over the expiration of the Bayanihan to Recover as One or the Bayanihan 2, with no alternatives in sight amid the increasing Covid-19 cases in the provinces.
According to Salceda, contracts for contact tracers and human resources for health under Bayanihan 2 were also set to expire June 30.
“Congress opens on July 26. That’s 26 days without an alternative, a terrifying prospect considering that Covid-19 is raging in the provinces,” he said.
Salceda said the language under Bayanihan 2 or RA 11519 explicitly dictates that the funds shall be available for “release, obligation, and disbursement” until June 30, 2021.
Ineptness
For his part, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman said the paucity in appropriation is aggravated by ineptness in fund utilization for the pandemic response.
“This is a serious indictment of the failure of the Duterte administration to rescue Filipinos from health complications and bail out the economy consequent to the onslaught of Covid-19,” he added.
“This ineffectiveness accounts for the projection that the Philippines will be the last to recover in late 2022 from the pandemic-induced recession among the countries in the Asia-Pacific Region which have outpaced the country in the amount and alacrity in responding to the pandemic,” Lagman added.
As it is, Lagman reminded his peers, the funding of P165.5 billion in Bayanihan 2 was already considered inadequate and lower than originally proposed by the House of Representatives.
The validity of Bayanihan 2 was originally fixed from September 11, 2020 to December 19, 2020, and its effectivity was subsequently extended to June 30, 2021 or a total validity of more than nine months.
Before it went on sine die adjourment, the House approved on second reading House Bill 9538, which seeks to further extend the release, obligation and disbursement of funds of Bayanihan 2 until the end of 2021.