Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 6693

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Introduced by: Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

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EXPLANATORY NOTE

 

Not since the Black Death decimated 60% of the afflicted populations in Europe and Western Asia in the mid-14th century has a deadly contagion devastated the world with inordinate loss of lives and crippling economic downturn than the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Worldwide, as of 05 May 2020, there are 3,596,142 confirmed positive cases, 251,718 of whom had died and 1,170,779 recovered.

In the Philippines as of the same date, 9,684 have tested positive, of which 637 perished from COVID-19 at the time of death, not including the 337 who died but posthumously found to be COVID- 19 positive, while 1,214 recovered. These data show that the Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 positive cases and deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.

Moreover, the Philippines registers the highest mortality of frontline doctors, nurses and other health care workers in the region with 33 deaths from a total of 1,694 infected medical frontliners. The total number of COVID-19 positive health care workers represents an alarming 17.49% of the total confirmed cases in the country.

To give lifelines to distraught peoples and distressed businesses, countries across the globe are rushing their respective economic stimulus packages.

Among other countries, Malaysia has an emergency package of RM260 billion or US$60.5 billion; Thailand, ฿1.9 trillion or US$58.3 billion; Singapore, S$60 billion or US$42.3 billion; Indonesia, Rp 436.1 trillion or US$29.1 billion; South Korea, 85 trillion won or US$69.3 billion; Japan ¥117 trillion or US$1.09 trillion; USA, US$2 trillion; Italy, €450 billion or US$499.1 billion; Germany, €750 billion or US$831.9 billion; UK, £350 billion or US$437.1 billion; Spain, €200 billion or $221.8 billion; Australia, AUS$320 billion or US$205 billion; and Canada, C$107 billion or US$75.3 billion.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), emerging economies like the Philippines would “need at least $2.5 trillion to weather the health crisis”.

The import and objectives of the P1 trillion continued emergency assistance and economic stimulus package or US$ 19.727 billion proposed in this bill, although modest in amount and scope compared to most other countries, are no less significant and compelling.

The inevitable and imperative lockdown, or officially known as enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), to contain the transmission of the virus and minimize the number of afflicted persons, was imposed initially in the National Capital Region and subsequently extended to the entirety of Luzon, and followed by local government units (LGUs) in other parts of the country.

The first ECQ was from March 15 to April 15, 2020 in Metro Manila and from March 17 to April 12, 2020 in Luzon, but President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to extend the Metro Manila and Luzon ECQs until April 30, 2020. On April 24, President Duterte announced that the ECQ was to extend until May 15, 2020 for Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon (except Aurora) as well as other areas in Luzon and some parts of the country that are considered high-risk for COVID-19 like Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Catanduanes, Davao del Norte, Davao City, Oriental Mindoro, Antique, Iloilo, Cebu, Cebu City, and Baguio City. 

The rest of the country is presently covered by general community quarantine (GCQ), which nonetheless is still community quarantine.

The lockdowns resulted to widespread immobilization of people and scaling down or even cessation of business operations which caused loss of wages for both formal and informal workers as well as middle-income employees. Vulnerable households have been pushed to the brink. The self-employed, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and bigger corporations all suffered substantial income losses.

Meanwhile, the viral menace continues to rampage, so much so that in the past seven days or from 29 April to 05 May, the number of new cases reached 1,766 or 18.23% of the total positive cases. In other words, positive cases in the past week alone represents almost one-fifth of the total number of infected patients in the Philippines. Consequently, there is a continuing pressure on the current national budget.

The government has come to the rescue of affected citizens through social amelioration and wage subsidies, supplemented by other emergency benefits, by using the pertinent appropriations in the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts (GAAs).

However, funding sources in the GAA may not be enough even as world health authorities have cautioned countries from prematurely lifting lockdown barriers for fear of a resurgence of the disease.

Considering that R.A. No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan Act” did not provide for any new appropriations for the COVID-19 response other than using the existing available appropriations in the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts (GAAs), there is need to immediately appropriate fresh funds for the government to continue granting social amelioration, wage subsidies and other emergency benefits to the affected sectors during the pandemic as well as additional requirements of the Department of Health to arrest the pandemic.

In other words, over and above what the Executive could appropriately use as originally allocated and legitimately generate from realignment of budgetary allocations in the 2019 and 2020 GAAs, the continuation of funding for emergency assistance is imperative.

The 2019 and 2020 GAAs cannot be milked dry in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling in Araullo vs. Aquino (G.R. No. 209287, July 1, 2014) which outlaws the discontinuance, impounding and reallocation of specifically budgeted programs and projects in order to collate forced savings and to transfer the generated funds to other expenditure outlays in violation of Section 25 (5) of Article VI of the Constitution. Paraphrasing the decision in Araullo, a noble purpose cannot be achieved by circumventing the fundamental law.

Moreover, the COVID-19 response cannot be pursued by unduly sacrificing growth like infrastructure development and other essential programs budgeted in the GAA.

Verily, funding in this bill covers two phases: first, while the pandemic persists at alarming levels, emergency assistance should be continued, allocated, and granted; and second, post COVID-19 funding to re-energize the economy which could start during the tail-end of the pandemic, if not possibly earlier.

In order to continue the various emergency assistance to the marginalized sectors as well as to the adversely affected members of the middle class, and to bail out businesses which are reeling from the onslaught of the evolving severest recession since the Great Depression, the enactment of this bill for continued emergency response and economic stimulus package is of critical immediacy.

After repeated consultations with and submissions from concerned Executive Departments like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Tourism (DOT), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), among others, the following benefits, beneficiaries, and implementing agencies are established:

The funding sources for this bill include the following, among others:

(1) Relief assistance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) pursuant to Sec. 89 of the BSP Act, as well as other innovative fiscal measures the BSP can undertake which is not expressly prohibited by law in order to augment the cash position of the government considering that the country’s foreign exchange reserves are at its highest at $89.0-B as of end-March 2020;

(2) Availment of grants and concessional loans from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which have been previously committed by the two multilateral funding institutions;

(3) Floatation of Philippine bonds in the international and domestic markets;

(4) Sale and privatization of disposable government assets like military golf courses and idle lands of the State Universities (SUCs), among others;

(5) Extension of tax amnesty programs; and

(6) Domestic borrowings by the Bureau of the Treasury.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

 

EDCEL C. LAGMAN

 

Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 6693

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Introduced by: Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

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AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE AMOUNT OF ONE TRILLION PESOS (P1,000,000,000,000) FOR THE CONTINUED EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Tile. – This Act shall be known as the “COVID-19 Response Act”.

SECTION 2. One Trillion Peso Appropriation. – The total amount of One Trillion Pesos (P1,000,000,000,000) is hereby appropriated as follows:

(A) The amount of One Hundred Sixty-Four Billion Pesos (P164,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), broken as follows:

(a) Fifty-Four Billion Pesos (P54,000,000,000) for DSWD’s “Sustainable Livelihood Program – Livelihood Assistance Grants” (SLP-LAG) for 20% of the 17,900,000 targeted beneficiaries for the Social Amelioration Program; and

(b) One Hundred Ten Billion Pesos (P110,000,000,000) additional funding for the Social Amelioration Program for marginalized households for three (3) months.

(B) The amount of Eighty-Two Billion Two Hundred Fifty-Nine Million Seven Hundred Sixty-Seven Thousand Pesos (P82,259,767,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for wage subsidy and livelihood financial assistance to disadvantaged and displaced workers in the formal and informal sectors, broken down as follows:

(a) Thirteen Billion Two Hundred Fifty-Nine Million Seven Hundred Sixty-Seven Thousand Pesos (P13,259,767,000) for the Enhanced Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) for three (3) months;

(b) Twenty-Four Billion Pesos (P24,000,000,000) for COVID Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) for three (3) months;

(c) Five Billion Pesos (P5,000,000,000) for Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong Program (CAMP-AKAP) for displaced Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who were (i) repatriated even as repatriation is continuing; (ii) those who remained in their host countries under no-work-no-pay policy; (iii) those who were unable to go back to their foreign employment because of the COVID-19 travel restrictions; and (iv) those who returned to the Philippines on their own; and

(d) Forty Billion Pesos (P40,000,000,000) for DOLE’s Barangay Emergency Employment Program (BEEP).

(C) The amount of One Hundred Ten Billion Five Hundred Twelve Million Pesos (P110,512,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Health (DOH), for its COVID-19 Emergency Response, broken down as follows:

(a) Twelve Billion Thirteen Million Pesos (P12,013,000,000) for prompt testing by public and designated private institutions of PUIs and PUMs;

(b) Thirteen Billion Fifty-Nine Million Pesos (P13,059,000,000) for medical expenses of public and private health workers in case of exposure to COVID-19 or any related injury or disease during the pandemic;

(c) Two Billion Sixty-One Million Pesos (P2,061,000,000) for compensation of public and private health workers who may contract severe COVID-19 infection or may die due to COVID-19 while in the line of duty;

(d) Five Billion Twenty-Six Million Pesos (P5,026,000,000) for capital expenditures related to COVID-19 response;

(e) Sixty-One Billion Seventy-One Million Pesos (P61,071,000,000) for procurement of COVID-19 response related commodities such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and treatment drugs;

(f) Two Billion Eighty-Two Million Pesos (P2,082,000,000) as subsidy for operational expenses of hospitals;

(g) Ten Billion Sixty-Three Million Pesos (P10,063,000,000) for the emergency hiring of human resources for healthcare;

(h) Five Hundred Twelve Million Pesos (P512,000,000) as compensation for private facilities used for the purpose of combating COVID-19; and

(i) Four Hundred Six Million Pesos (P406,000,000) for the strengthening of epidemiology and surveillance response including the hiring of contact tracers.

(D) The amount of Fifty-Five Million Pesos (P55,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH), for the production of test kits and other allied equipment.

(E) The amount of One Hundred Billion Pesos (P100,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), broken down as follows:

(a) Eighty Billion Pesos (P80,000,000,000) for wage subsidy, financial assistance and/or interest-free loans to middle income affected employees of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the trade, manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and agriculture sectors, including displaced private school teachers;

(b) Ten Billion (P10,000,000,000) for soft loans to manufacturing enterprises; and

(c) Ten Billion (P10,000,000,000) soft loans for export-oriented enterprises. 

With respect to availment of affected employees of MSMEs in the transportation and tourism sectors, the Secretary of DTI shall coordinate with the respective Secretaries of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The Social Security System (SSS) shall assist DTI in the payment to affected employees under the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program for MSMEs.

Interest-free loans to MSMEs and the concessional loans to business enterprises authorized herein shall be processed and released by the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP).

(F) The amount of Fifty Billion Pesos (P50,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Agriculture (DA), broken down as follows:

(a) Financial assistance under the “Ahon Lahat, Pagkain Sapat Kontra sa COVID-19” (ALPAS) Program amounting to P31,000,000,000;

(b) Cash-for-Work Program (C4W) amounting to P15,000,000,000.

(G) The amount of Two Billion Two Hundred Million Pesos (P2,200,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), broken down as follows:

(a) Five Hundred Ninety-Seven Million Seven Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand Five Hundred (P597,755,500) as funding for Phase II of the “The PaSSOver: ARBold Move for Deliverance of our Farmers from the COVID-19 Pandemic” covering 225,511 agrarian reform beneficiaries; and

(b) One Billion Five Hundred Sixty-Seven Million Six Hundred Five Thousand (P1,567,605,000) as funding for the “Gulay, Buhay sa Sambayanan” covering 15,000 hectares of CARP-awarded lands or 1,000 hectares per region.

(H) The amount of Seventy-One Billion Six Hundred Seventeen Million Pesos (P71,617,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Tourism (DOT) for its Support for the Tourism Recovery Program. This total amount is net of P3,134,840,000 for wage subsidy to MSMEs-affected workers in the tourism sector to be implemented by the DTI. The total amount is broken down as follows:

(a) Sixty Billion Sixty-Seven Million Pesos (P60,067,000,000) as concessional Working Capital Loan (WCL) for the tourism industry;

(b) Ten Billion Pesos (P10,000,000,000) for the Tourism Resiliency Fund;

(c) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for the Market and Product Development Support Program;

(d) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for the Marketing and Promotions Program;

(e) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for Capacity Building for Industry Stakeholders; and

(f) Fifty Million Pesos (50,000,000) for Institutional Support Program.

(I) The amount of Ninety Billion Three Hundred Six Million Two Hundred Thirty-Three Thousand Pesos (P90,306,233,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), broken down as follows:

(a) Fifty-Nine Billion Four Hundred Thirty Million Pesos (P59,430,000,000) as support for the aviation sector, further broken down as follows:

(1) Fifteen Billion Three Hundred Million Pesos (P15,300,000,000) for access to emergency lines of credit (soft loans) for operational expenses for a minimum of six (6) months;

(2) Thirty-Eight Billion Two Hundred Fifty Million Pesos (P38,250,000,000) for long-term credit for the aviation recovery with liberal rates of interest; and

(3) Six Billion Three Hundred Seventy-Five Million Pesos (P6,375,000,000) for relief on current working credit lines after banks have cut-off the existing credit lines.

(b) Twenty Billion Five Hundred Million Pesos (P20,500,000,000) as concessional loan facility for the maritime sector;

(c) Ten Billion Pesos (P10,000,000,000) as concessional loan facility for the road sector;

(d) One Hundred Thirty-Five Million (P135,000,000) as funding for the continuous provision of free shuttle service to health workers for three (3) months; and

(e) Two Hundred Forty-One Million Two Hundred Thirty-
Three Thousand Pesos (P241,233,000) as subsidy for the continuous operation of the quarantine vessels and Eva Macapagal Terminal to house COVID-19 affected patients for three (3) months.

(J) The amount of Two Hundred Billion Pesos (P200,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the construction of health facilities related to the COVID-19 response like new public hospitals, quarantine centers and allied structures, including the expansion of regional hospitals to increase the nationwide hospital bed capacity and modernize health facilities. Likewise, to implement infrastructure projects whose budgeted capital outlays in the 2020 General Appropriations Act were discontinued and reallocated/realigned to COVID-19 response projects and programs. This would underscore the verity that infrastructure development is the engine of growth and provides remunerative work both in the urban centers and the countryside.

(K) The amount of One Hundred Billion Pesos (P100,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for grant of subsidy or financial assistance to local government units (LGUs) nationwide to enable LGUs to respond more effectively and immediately to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to supplement the assistance from the National Government.

(L) The amount of Four Billion Pesos (P4,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) programs to upskill workers.

(M) The amount of Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000) is appropriated for management by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the educational assistance to the children and/or next-of-kin of healthcare frontliners who died of COVID-19 under a “Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Children and/or Next-of-Kin of Healthcare Frontliners Who Died of COVID-19”.

(N) The amount of Twenty-Five Billion Pesos (P25,000,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Office of the President (OP) as a contingent fund to cover any funding deficiency herein, resolve the need for fund augmentation, and address unserved beneficiaries.

SECTION 3. Implementing Agencies. – The implementing agencies designated in this Act shall within fifteen (15) days from the effectivity of this Act issue necessary guidelines, including the schedules of availment as well as the screening of beneficiaries and the processing of the grant or benefits.

SECTION 4. Loans to MSMEs. – The credit accommodation to the MSMEs as well as those who are self-employed shall be interest-free, payable within three (3) years and shall not require any collateral if the loan does not exceed three (3) million pesos.

SECTION 5. Loans Extended to Businesses. – The loans extended to corporations or enterprises in the transportation, tourism, manufacturing, export-oriented and agricultural sectors, which are not MSMEs, shall be concessional and payable within three (3) to six (6) years.

SECTION 6. Loan Conditionalities. – The loans granted to MSMEs and business enterprises pursuant to this Act shall have the following conditionalities: (a) proceeds of the loan shall be used to rehabilitate the business and for operational purposes; (b) the borrower shall maintain the number of its employee workforce; and (c) any patent or culpable violation of the terms and conditions of the loan shall lead to the imposition of regular or higher interest rates, as the case may be, or shall make the loan due and demandable.

SECTION 7. Remittance of Payments to the Bureau of the Treasury. – All collections or payments for the principal and interest of the loans granted under this Act shall be remitted immediately to the Bureau of the Treasury.

SECTION 8. Non-Exclusivity. – This Act shall not preclude national agencies, government financial institutions, Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), local government units (LGUs), and the private sector from adopting enabling measures not inconsistent with this Act.

SECTION 9. Retroactivity. – This Act shall be retroactive in so far as benefits or wage subsidies are concerned for implementation by the DSWD, DOLE, DOH, and DTI or as may be implied or provided for herein.

SECTION 10. Repealing Clause. – All provisions of existing laws, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SECTION 11. Separability Clause. – If for any reason or reasons, any part or provision of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other parts or provisions hereof which are not affected thereby, shall remain to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 12. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect immediately upon its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Approved,

 

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