House offers staggered implementation of P680B spending plan under stimulus package bill

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers pushing for the P1.3 trillion House Bill 6815, or the Accelerate Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill, are offering a staggered implementation of the proposed P680 billion spending plan in the proposed stimulus package.

House Economic Affairs Committee chair AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Representative Sharon Garin said Thursday that members of the House of Representatives pushing for the bill have offered the “compromise” to implement the proposed measure that is being opposed by the country’s economic managers.

“The compromise that we have offered is staggered siya. P140 [billion] ngayon, P280 [billion] in two months after SONA (State of the Nation Address), and then P280 [billion] on the 2021 budget, something like that. Hindi siya bagsakan,” she said during a virtual meeting of the committee.

“It’s doable if that’s the case,” added Garin.

The House of Representatives earlier approved on third and final reading the bill that proposes a package of reforms amounting to P1.3 trillion in total to help address the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Formerly called the proposed Philippine Economic Stimulus Act, the bill is expected to protect and assist up to 15.7 million workers, create three million short-term jobs and generate 1.5 million jobs in the infrastructure over a period of three years, as well as help up to 5.57 million micro, small, and medium enterprises.

The package of reforms will cost P688 billion in new spending in its first year.

Earlier, National Economic and Development Authority Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the stimulus package under the bill “would not be fundable.”

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, meanwhile, said provisions under various economic stimulus measures being proposed by Congress cannot be funded because of a lack of excess revenue.

JE