Senate President Vicente Sotto III. (FILE PHOTO / Cesar Tomambo of Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday appealed to local government units (LGUs) to temporarily shoulder any needed funds to expedite the delivery of emergency subsidies to the people and just charge the expenses to the government later.
“Pakiusap naman natin sa mga local officials, abonohan niyo yung kulang at saka natin singilin yung DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), katulong niyo kami na maniningil diyan at kung anong pondong kailangan, kung kailangan kami diyan gumawa nga batas para diyan, gagawin natin,” Sotto said in an interview on dzMM.
(I’m appealing to our local officials, just provide it in advance what is lacking and let’s just charge it later to the DSWD, we’ll help you get your funds back and if ever you need a law to get it back, we’ll make one for you.)
The senator said local officials could tap their calamity funds, the cap spending of which has been lifted under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
“Inalis na nga namin yung cap dun sa Bayanihan sa mga calamity fund. Gamitin niyo na kahit anong pondo muna. Ang usapan dito, buhay na muna saka na yung pera, saka na yung gobyerno, hindi maibabalik yung buhay e, pero yung pera maibabalik yan, kikitain ng gobyerno yan,” he said.
(We’ve removed the cap in the calamity fund as we have stated in the Bayanihan Act. Use whatever fund available. We are talking about lives of people here, life first before money, let’s think of the government later, we cannot bring back lost lives, money you can bring back later.)
He was referring to a provision of the law which lifted the 30 percent cap on the amount appropriated for the quick response fund during the existence of the state of national emergency.
“Karamihan naman ng mga LGU kakayanin e, abonohan mo muna, makakasingil ka naman sa gobyerno,” he said.
(Most of the LGU can make it, just shoulder the fund first, we can charge the government.)
Sotto noted that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has so far released a total of P101.5 billion to the DSWD and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for their respective social amelioration program (SAP).
The national government, under the Bayanihan law, earlier set aside P200-billion cash assistance for the government’s COVID-19 response.
Some 18 million poor families are seen to benefit from the emergency cash subsidy, ranging from P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months.