THE House of Representatives has approved on second reading a measure providing for a P1.3 trillion economic stimulus package that will be in effect until 2023 to help jump-start the economy in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Congressmen late Monday afternoon approved House Bill No. 6815 or the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill which was originally entitled the proposed “Philippine Economic Stimulus Act” or PESA.
The House leadership is optimistic the measure will be passed on third and final reading before the scheduled congressional recess on Friday.
“We are fast-tracking the passage of this economic stimulus bill so we can immediately help our countrymen to recover from the financial and socio-economic impact of the pandemic,” said Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Cayetano said the measure seeks to allow the government to respond to the needs of the workers in non-essential businesses, freelancers, repatriated OFWs and self-employed workers who may have been left out in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s social amelioration programs and Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program.
In her sponsorship speech, Deputy Speaker Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA party-list, who is also the co-chair of the subcommittee on economic response package cluster of Defeat COVID-19 committee, cited the urgency to help the people who have lost their jobs under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) through the implementation of transitional interventions.
“Workers in non-essential businesses, the self-employed, the freelancers and OFWs will be given a maximum subsidy of P15,000 per month for two months,” she said, noting that this is part of the P110 billion subsidy program under the bill.
Majority leader Martin Romualdez said the measure aims to create 1.5 million jobs through infrastructure projects and protect 5.57 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by helping their troubled companies.
Romualdez added the measure will also protect the people from COVID-19 through the P20 billion allocation for the mass testing program of the Department of Health (DOH) or P10 billion each this year and next year “to boost consumer and business confidence.”
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House committee on ways and means, said funding will come from the Department of Finance (DOF) through the Bureau of Treasury, government financial institutions and government-owned corporations (GOCCs) as well as bonds.
ARISE authorizes President Duterte to realign within six months items in this year’s national budget that cannot be utilized due to COVID such as travel and forced savings and extends the validity of the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts until 2021.
The bill also extends the power of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, particularly the provisions on testing, wage subsidies, Department of Labor and Employment’s (DoLE) TUPAD, loan payment extension, assistance of the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and on Agriculture (DA), ease of credit rules, health protocols to mitigate transmission, reallocation and realignment of appropriations.
ARISE will also create an Economic Stimulus Board and Economic Resilience Plan to include required investments in health, digital infrastructure, and database to withstand economic shocks.
The proposal will condone the loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries to enhance access to credit facilities.
The bill provides employment and a P25 billion “cash-for-work” program for informal workers under the DOLE-Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD).
A total of P42 billion educational subsidy will also be funded under the measure on top of a P50 billion for Small Business Corporation’s (SBCorp) existing loan programs for MSMEs this year and another P25 billion next year.
There is a P50 billion program for interest-free loans under the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines’s (DBP); a loan guarantee program by the Philippine Guarantee Corporation (PGC) which has an allocation of P20 billion this year and another P20 billion next year.
Another P10 billion is allocated to the Department of Trade and Industry as additional assistance to MSMEs this year to help 1 million establishments; P58 billion assistance to the Department of Tourism (DoT); P70 billion to the Department of Transportation (DOTr); P44 billion to the Board of Investments (BOI) for grants and technical assistance to business entities engaged in exporting or importing, and those manufacturing new products and services to meet the needs of the domestic market, in order to restore or identify new global market trends to increase competitive advantage.
There is P15 billion for cash for work program in agriculture; P66 billion to Department of Agriculture to support the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program under Executive Order (EO) No. 114 of 2020 and P100 billion will be allocated to National Emergency Investment Vehicle (NIEV), which will created under the proposal to enable faster recovery of certain critically impacted businesses vital to the economy.
Also, P25 billion is appropriated as equity of the National Government in NIEV while P25 billion shall be appropriated for the same purpose in the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
