Bayanihan 2 accounting sought

MANILA, Philippines — Some P20 billion for various aid programs for distressed sectors and businesses granted under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 remain undisbursed even as the law – already extended by six months – is set to expire next month, Sen. Sonny Angara said yesterday.

Bayanihan 2 or Republic Act 11494, which authorized President Duterte to realign funds for COVID-19 response, is to expire on June 30 after Congress extended last year its effectivity for six months as various government agencies were slow in delivering assistance to target beneficiaries and businesses.

Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on finance, noted that the Departments of Education (DepEd), Transportation (DOTr), Agriculture (DA), Health (DOH) and the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) have failed to obligate and/or disburse nearly P20 billion from their respective funding under Bayanihan 2.

“They (agencies) cannot cite lack of time as the reason (for their failure to release funds to beneficiaries) because we already extended the law,” the senator told dzBB in Filipino. “Some agencies are just really efficient. If other agencies can find a way (to release funds), why can’t the others? The reason we extended it is so that they won’t have alibis.”

He said the country is in a state of emergency due to the pandemic, so the concerned agencies must work faster than usual in performing their duties. Agencies are required to make regular reports to the Senate and the House of Representatives in the disbursement of funds.

Angara said the findings were just initial figures of some agencies as the panel continues to review the reports.

DepEd, he cited as example, was allocated P4 billion under Bayanihan 2 for its digital and distance learning, including the provision of P400 million in monthly internet allowance, and computer tablets for teachers. But of the amount, only P2.506 billion or 62.6 percent were “obligated.”

He noted further that of the P2.506 billion, only P32 million were actually disbursed, which shows that DepEd has a disbursement rate of a “dismal” 1.28 percent as of May 7.

The agency also has failed to release a single centavo out of the P300 million for allowances and subsidies for qualified students allocated by another provision in the law, Angara lamented.

“Effective distance learning is crucial for our students to cope and continue to gain education even with the pandemic,” he stressed.

He said the DA has some P1.5 billion in assistance to farmers that it has not yet obligated while the DOTr has yet to release some P6 billion to P7 billion to drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs).

Angara added that the DOTr’s excuse that some PUV drivers lack documentation and other requirements was not acceptable given that the beneficiaries are not expected at the outset to be able to comply with them.

The SB Corp., which is under the Department of Trade and Industry, has yet to disburse P1 billion for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), while the DOH has P9 billion in unobligated Bayanihan 2 funds, he said.

Apart from Bayanihan 2, the committee is also monitoring the performance of agencies with regard to their disbursements of certain provisions of the 2020 national budget that were also extended to June 30, and the implementation of the P4.5-trillion General Appropriations Act of 2021.

Angara said he is waiting for the approved version of the Bayanihan 3 from the House of Representatives before starting hearings on the bill as well as similar measures filed by his colleagues.

He, however, stressed that a clear and actual funding source must be identified for Bayanihan 3 as the measure, if enacted into law, would be useless without funds.

“It’s important that we know where the funds will come from. If we give P1,000 to beneficiaries but we sourced it from borrowings, then it’s as if the public paid for it,” he said.