Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto. (Sceen grab/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — A third Bayanihan law, this time to aid victims of recent typhoons, was raised on Monday during the Senate’s plenary debates on the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021.
It was Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto who broached the idea of passing a “Bayanihan 3” measure to help calamity-stricken provinces.
“More than the 2021 budget, if we are quick to act for a Bayanihan 1 and Bayanihan 2 for the pandemic, why not have a Bayanihan 3 for this typhoon?” Recto told his colleagues.
Congress earlier passed the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1) and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) to fund response and recovery measures for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, backed Recto’s suggestion but raised concern that the chamber may not have enough time to work on the measure before it goes on holiday break.
“I’m not against that…My only fear is that we may run out of time in our calendar to pass but for instance a special session if called if needed, then that would be a possibility,” Angara said.
In response, Recto expressed confidence that the Senate is “on track” with the budget deliberations and could even pass the spending bill on final reading within the week.
“There should be enough time to pass a supplemental budget for those affected by the most recent or the last three typhoons,” Recto said.
Calamity funds
According to Angara, there is approximately P8.6 billion left in the 2020 calamity funds as of November 13.
“Would that be a sufficient amount?” Recto then asked.
“It may not be enough,” Angara responded.
But he assured that his Senate panel had increased the proposed calamity fund for 2021 to at least P26 billion from the P21 billion allocated for the current year.
While Angara raised concerns over time constraints to pass a third Bayanihan law, he assured that the Senate will “rise to the task again” if needed.
“I think the Senate has shown that we have risen to the task in the past. So I would not doubt the ability of the chamber to rise to the task again,” he said.