The House of Representatives is preparing to convene a special session to provide extra funding for the campaign against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez said Friday.
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“This is a call of duty and we are committed to respond to President Duterte’s request to ensure possible quick response to defeat COVID-19, help Filipinos living below poverty line, protect people in the frontline, and map out other contingency measures,” Romualdez said.
“Plans, including observing social distancing amid quarantine are being finalized to guarantee the safety of our House employees, officials, media, and lawmakers attending the special session,” Romualdez added.
Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, Jr. also backed the President’s call a special session to approve a bill proposing a P1.65 billion supplemental budget for the Department of Health (DOH) to address the COVID-19 threat.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said that in the event that a special session is called, only he, the majority leader, and the minority leader can physically attend the session, while voting by its members can be done through a videoconferencing.
Barzaga said House rules may be relaxed during a national health emergency. He added that any legal challenge would not prosper.
Reps. Fidel Nograles of Rizal and Luis Raymund Villafuerte also backed the holding of a special session intended to pass the supplemental budget.
Villafuerte, deputy speaker for finance, said a consensus is shaping up on the holding of a special session to enable Congress to pass emergency measures to let the Duterte administration provide immediate and substantial relief to families and small businesses most affected by COVID-19 outbreak.
Nograles said Congress is ready to do its part to help arrest the spread of the disease.
The House committee on appropriations last week approved a P1.65 billion supplemental budget for the DOH to respond to the current public health crisis.
The agency originally sought P2.35 billion. Health Undersecretary Roger Tong-An, however, said that the DOH actually needs P3.1 billion to procure more test kits, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and pay the salaries of additional frontline personnel recruited to battle the virus.
So far, 217 Filipinos have been infected with the virus, with 17 deaths.
Senator Christopher Go, a constant companion of President Duterte, said he discussed the special session with Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Cayetano, who both said they were ready to hold the session either on Saturday or Monday next week.
Based on their discussion, Go said the priority woild be ensuring that additional funds can be allocated for immediate health care needs and for much-needed financial and food assistance to Filipinos, particularly the vulnerable sectors, daily wage earners and those working in the informal economy who are affected by the strict quarantine measures.
He said both Houses of Congress committed to find ways to respond to the needs of the people, especially at this time when decisive government action is imperative.
Sotto said Congress could convene in a special session on Saturday if they can receive a letter from Malacañang on Friday.
Speaking in an interview over radio dzMM, Sotto said Congress could pass a bill that would allow the President to use unspent funds to ensure food security amid the health crisis.
“I’m not sure if we would call it a supplemental budget but it would be like a bill or a law allowing the President to use unused funds for COVID-19,” he said.
Sotto said he proposed a special session after economists raised the possibility local government units (LGUs) might no longer have funds to feed their constituents. He warned of possible public order and financial crisis.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said they are ready for a special session.
“Since national government issued the quarantine declaration, it should start moving now,” said Pimentel as he called the attention of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to start helping the people as if a strong typhoon just passed by the entire Luzon.
“That should be the DSWD’s mental image. Let’s move. Prioritize food,” Pimentel said.
In related developments:
* Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Caloy Isagani Zarate called on all departments with Quick Response Funds (QRF) to use these allocations in the fight against COVID-19. There are reports that local government units, particularly at the barangay levels, are worried that their quick response funds will not be sufficient to provide the support needed by their constituents during the entire quarantine period.
* Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda said the P56 billion budget for the unconditional cash transfer under the tax reform law should be used by the administration to provide the poor much needed assistance amid the enhanced community quarantine due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The National Economic and Development Authority earlier reported that there is an unspent fund of P18.7 billion from the 2019 General Appropriations Act for the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) and an allocation of P36.4 billion for the same purpose under the 2020 national budget. In addition, she said there is still P1.7 billion UCT to be distributed under the 2018 GAA for a total of P56 billion. “These funds can be expeditiously given out now, especially those allocated in the 2018 and 2019 budget which should have been done by now. The 2020 budget can be given out soon to avert hunger amid the crisis,” Legarda added.
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