The law extending the availability of appropriations under Bayanihan 2 expired Wednesday, but Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara stressed Thursday many of its provisions would continue while the state of national emergency declared by President Rodrigo Duterte remained.
Angara, sponsor of both Bayanihan 2 and Republic Act No. 11519 that extended its validity to June 30, said there were specific provisions that would remain in effect, including benefits given to health workers.
He said this included compensation for those who contract COVID-19 in the line of duty; the grant of special risk allowance; actual hazard duty pay for those serving in the front lines; medical expense coverage in case of exposure to COVID or work-related injury or disease; and the provision of life insurance, accommodation, transportation, and meals.
“One of the key features of Bayanihan 2 is the benefits provided to our heroic health workers who continuously put their lives at risk in order to save lives,” said Angara, chairman of the Committee on Finance.
“It was the clear intent of Congress that the grant of these benefits should not cease even after Bayanihan 2 and the law extending the availability of B2 funding expires,” he added.
The battle against COVID-19 and its variants, Angara said, does not end with the expiry of the Bayanihan law.
Under Bayanihan 2, public and private health workers who contract COVID-19 while in the line of duty are compensated as follows: P15,000 in case of sickness for a mild or moderate case; P100,000 for severe and critical cases; and P1 million in case of death.
Apart from the benefits to health workers, the provision of financial relief to agrarian reform beneficiaries will also continue, he said.
Bayanihan 2 provides that the payment of interest, penalties, and surcharges of loans used for land acquisition to any and all government agencies and government owned or controlled corporations shall be condoned and the remaining original principal value will be restructured without interest.
For flagship infrastructure projects, the waiver on all permits and licenses, including local government permits, licenses, clearances and registration requirements will continue until the middle of September 2021.
In the case of private projects that are either nationally significant, with high economic returns or high employment potential, the waiver on permits, licenses, certificates, clearances, consents, authorizations or resolutions by national government agencies, except those relating to taxes, duties, border control and environmental laws and regulations may be enjoyed during the state of national emergency and the economic rehabilitation period or until the last day of June 2022, whichever is later.
To promote business continuity and capacity building, an exemption from compulsory notification of mergers and acquisitions with transaction values below P50 billion will be granted if these are entered into within a period of two years from the effectivity of Bayanihan 2.
The exemption from the Philippine Competition Commission’s review of such mergers and acquisitions will also be in place until the middle of September 2021.
There will be no phase-out of any modality of public utility vehicles while the transport industry is transitioning to a new normal, Angara said.
The net operating loss of businesses or enterprises for taxable years 2020 and 2021 shall be carried over as a deduction from gross income for the next five consecutive taxable years immediately following the year of such loss.
The COVID-19 National Referral System, jointly developed by the Philippine Red Cross and DOH, will remain to provide patients a fast and efficient way to locate and avail of the services of hospitals, clinics, isolation centers, other health facilities, blood banks, convalescent plasma facilities and ambulance systems.
Other provisions under B2 that will contin after June 30 are as follows:
• Lifting of the 30 percent cap on the quick response fund
• Additional direct provisional advances, with or without interest, by the BSP to the national government, which shall be availed of within two years from the effectivity of Bayanihan 2; and
• Prohibition on private schools, colleges and universities receiving grants from retrenching their employees for a period of nine months from receipt of grant, among others.
Meanwhile, a party-list lawmaker urged the Department of Health and local government units to consider granting volunteer vaccinators an allowance of at least P1,000 a day.
“It’s not enough compensation, but it could cover the volunteer’s transportation, snacks and lunch, and perhaps leave him with change good for two to three kilos of well-milled rice,” Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor said.
He said many of the volunteer nurses were unemployed or waiting to be deployed abroad, while most doctor-volunteers were new practitioners still struggling and building their career.
“Vaccination duty will be a source of income for those who are jobless or waiting for deployment, and an additional earning for young doctors, if they are given an allowance,” he said.
He added that P1,000 a day would approximate the hiring salary of a government nurse, which is about P33,000 a month.