Philippines: No need for Bayanihan 3 bill to revive economy

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday said passing a third Bayanihan law is no longer necessary for the 2021 national budget already provides funding to jumpstart the economy.

Gatchalian said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel when asked about the proposed P420-billion Bayanihan 3 bill being pushed in the House of Representatives, I don’t see the point for Bayanihan 3. The 2021 budget is the Bayanihan 3. That’s why when we were crafting the 2021 budget, we asked the executive, and the executive also recommended to us the items that they need to jumpstart our economy this 2021. The items in the 2021 budget are the items that are recommended by the executive department to jumpstart our economy, to help our MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and to also help rollout the vaccines. So I don’t see the need for the Bayanihan 3 because all the items there are already included in the 2021 budget.

In early February, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco filed House Bill No. 8628 or proposed the Bayanihan to Arise As One Act, also known as Bayanihan 3. Bayanihan 3 seeks to provide a P420-billion fund to help the country recover amid the economic crash triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 220 House lawmakers are supporting of the proposed third Bayanihan measure, according to Velasco.

He said, but Gatchalian said that passing a third Bayanihan law could hamper the entire budget allocation. The thing with Bayanihan 3, if you reallocate funds at this early on you have to take it from somewhere else and the [2021] budget was crafted on the basis of need and necessity, meaning, if you will reallocate budget through Bayanihan 3, you have to take it out from somewhere and that will hamper the entire budget allocation.

Gatchalian, who is vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions, also pointed to a pending bill that would give the government “additional fire power to lend to MSMEs and to strategic businesses.

He said, what is actually on the table is the Guide (Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery) bill and the Guide bill, basically will enable Land Bank and [Development Bank of the Philippines] to help our MSMEs. On top of the 2021 budget, the Guide bill, which will release loans at a much cheaper rate to our MSMEs and strategic businesses, will help jumpstart the economy from a business point of view.

The senator, meanwhile, underscored the need for a faster disbursement of funds under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2.

He said, that’s always been an issue with the absorption capacity. Some of the items in Bayanihan 2 are still waiting to be disbursed. Support to the education sector, business sector are not fully disbursed.