Congress is expected to approve on third and final reading before adjourning this week for Christmas two bills seeking to extend the validity of the P4.1- trillion 2020 national budget until December next year and the appropriations under the P165.5-billion Bayanihan to Recover as One Act until June 30, 2021.
The House of Representatives will pass on third and final reading House Bill 6656 amending Republic Act 11465, or the General Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2020, to extend its life until December 2021 to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It may extend its session until Friday, instead of adjourning this Wednesday if President Rodrigo Duterte will not certify as urgent a substitute measure to five bills that the House committee on appropriations, led by ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Eric Yap, approved last Friday extending the life of Bayanihan 2 until June 30, 2021.
Meanwhile, Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera said Sunday the spending on social services got a significant boost in the final version of the P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
The Senate and House of Representatives agreed to increase the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development by P3.669 billion, bringing its total budget to P176.66 billion under the 2021 General Appropriations Bill.
“This is a testament to the Duterte administration’s strong commitment to empower and uplift the lives of the poor, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged, amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” Herrera said.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez are among the principal sponsors of the two measures.
“Unfortunately, the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic hit and has overwhelmed the country’s health service, disaster management facilities, and information communications and technology infrastructure, among many others. Various community quarantines imposed by the national government to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 had also hindered any economic activity and delayed the implementation of various governmental programs, projects, activities, and services,” Romualdez said.
In defending the extension of Bayanihan 2, Yap, one of the principal authors like Velasco and Romualdez, said the proposal would ensure consistent and efficient delivery of assistance to the Filipino people and help aid economic recovery.