PH gov’t commits P1.491T to combat COVID-19 — Dominguez

Finance Secretary Carlos Domingues III. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO / CATHY MIRANDA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has committed P1.491 trillion to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez bared Tuesday.

During the online meeting of the House’s Defeat COVID-19 Committee (DCC), Dominguez said the budget has been increased from P1.17 trillion as reported by the finance department last week.

“Just to give you an update from last week, the total amount of funds we have now committed to combating the virus is now P1.491 trillion. This is right now close to US$30 billion which is already 8 percent of our GDP last year,” Dominguez said.

“We have new programs in place and again these programs are designed to assist the vulnerable sectors,” he added.

Dominguez said that P590 billion was allocated for emergency support for the vulnerable groups including the Emergency Subsidy Program for 18 million families (P205 billion), wage subsidy program for employees of small businesses to incentivize retention of workers (P51 billion), and credit guarantee for small businesses (P120 billion).

The finance secretary said he will send Congress an updated breakdown of the funds.

As of April 20, there are 6,459 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, with the death toll reaching 428.

Edited by JPV