Cayetano wants bill on COVID-19 supplemental budget certified as urgent

MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday said he would ask Malacañang to certify as urgent the supplemental budget bill for the government’s drive against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This comes after the House committee on appropriations approved a P1.6-billion supplemental budget to aid the Department of Health’s (DOH) efforts against the spread of the disease.

“I talked to the chairman of the committee on appropriations, chairman Eric Yap, he was looking earlier for PLLO (Presidential Legislative Liaison Office) and then I advised him to the office of ES (Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea) para kumuha ng certificate of urgency para we can finish it kahit by tomorrow (to get certificate of urgency so we can finish it by tomorrow),” Cayetano said in a press briefing.

The House will have its last session day on Wednesday before it takes its Lenten break.

Cayetano said the lower chamber is ready should President Rodrigo Duterte call for a special session during the break.

“It’s a challenge for us not to call off sessions kasi may mga concerns talaga lalo kung bukas ‘yung opisina diba, ang constituents mo labas-pasok (because there really are concerns especially when our constituents enter and exit our offices),” Cayetano said.

“But ang tingin namin, we have to project cautiousness but normalcy so gusto nating ipakita sa mga tao na life has to go on and that may nag-aasikaso sa kanila (But we think we have to project cautiousness but normalcy so we want to show them that life has to go on) so we’ll continue to have hearings and we’ll finish the session tomorrow,” the House Speaker added.

Two bills were earlier filed seeking over P2-billion supplemental budget for the health department.

However, the Deputy Treasurer Sharon Almanza said that the Bureau of Treasury does not have the sufficient funds needed since it only has P1.65 billion in excess income.

Lawmakers agreed to just approve the substitute supplemental budget bill, a consolidated version of the two earlier supplemental measures, based on the available funds from the Bureau of Treasury.

The House panel agreed that the funds will be available for release until “after it is fully spent.”

The House panel-approved supplemental budget is short of the P3.1 billion budget needed by DOH for its COVID-19 response.

Health Undersecretary Roger Tong-an said the DOH needs a total of P3.1 billion—P2.35 billion for the procurement of personal protective equipment, P933 million for the Bureau of Quarantine, and P139 million for the tests conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Tong-an, however, said there are some possible fundings where the funds needed could be sourced which includes the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the health department’s own savings.