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MANILA – Senate and House budget heads confirmed Wednesday that Congress plans to extend the validity of 2 spending bills to ensure that the delayed COVID-19 response bills are still implemented.
Congress plans to extend the 2020 budget through June or December 2021, and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) through March or mid-2021, Senate Finance Committee Chair Senator Sonny Angara said in a press conference.
This, while the approval of the 2021 national budget is on the right track. Congress had extended the validity of the spending plans in 2018 and 2019, as approval of spending measures for subsequent years was delayed after House lawmakers argued about how much their respective districts could get from the coffers. state.
“The GAA (General Appropriations Act) of 2020 has many projects that were delayed due to the lockdown, to the quarantine, so additional time is needed,” he said.
“With respect to [COVID-19] vaccine, ‘yung P8 billion [fund] nasa Bayanihan 2 to expire on December 19. If we don’t expand Bayanihan 2, the money will also roll back [back to the National Treasury],” he said.
(As for the COVID-19 vaccine, the P8 billion is deposited in Bayanihan 2 so it expires on December 19. If we do not expand Bayanihan 2, the fund will revert to the National Treasury).
Under the law, annual national budgets would expire at the end of each year, while emergency measures, such as Bayanihan 2, would lose their validity once Congress adjourns.
Once these spending laws expire, unspent funds must be returned to the National Treasury, and Congress would have to write another law to authorize the executive branch to use these funds for specific projects.
“We think that until March [i-extend] but it always depends on pa ‘yan eh, it depends on needs, “said the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives of ACT-CIS, representative by party list, Eric Yap.
(We were thinking of extending it until March, but that would depend on the needs).
“If we think we haven’t used it all yet [by then], we can still extend that, “he said.
(If we think that not everything has been used by then, we can expand it again.)
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto introduced Senate Bill No. 1909 to extend COVID-19 spending timelines through March 27, 2021.
But opposition senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan previously warned against the practice of extending the validity of the budget, saying it could lead executive agencies to be complacent in implementing projects.
“Do we accept the delays? Because it will be extended [ng Congress]so let it go [na delayed ang release ng funds]? ”He said in the Senate plenary last month.
(Are we tolerating delays? If Congress extends it, should we let them delay the release of funds?)
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon downplayed the need for a third Bayanihan law, saying additional funding for typhoon victims and COVID-19 programs could be included in the 2021 budget.
“The executive should be able to cooperate by releasing funds under Bayanihan 2,” he said.
“Why do we have to break our heads on this issue when in reality the solution is … to free this money?”
As of October 29, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P78 billion, roughly half of the P165 billion in funds that the government is authorized to spend under Bayanihan 2.
RELATED VIDEO:
Budget 2021, Senate, Sonny Angara, Eric Yap, House of Representatives, Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, Bayanihan 2, COVID-19
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