Gov’t hit for not using alloted funds for pandemic response

In this photo taken on August 12, 2020, a group of jeepney drivers with placards strapped along their bodies with writings “Mam/sir, we’re jeepney drivers, asking for your help”, beg for alms along a road in Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP) 

MANILA, Philippines — Civil society organizations criticized the government for insisting on extending or creating another Bayanihan law when they could not even agree on how to use taxpayers’ monies that have already been allotted for pandemic recovery efforts.

“There are funds available for Bayanihan 3 if the executive and legislative branches stop passing the buck and work together,” read the joint statement signed on Thursday by 17 civil society organizations.

The groups said more than P10-billion unused funds for health-care and transport workers would revert to the treasury once the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or Republic Act No. 11494, expires on June 30.

The groups said President Duterte, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Speaker Lord Allan Velasco should not wait until July 26 before calling a special session to reallocate line items from the 2021 national budget to fund Bayanihan 3.

“Second, President Duterte, [Finance] Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, [Budget] Secretary Wendel Avisado, and [National Economic and Development Authority] Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, should convene the Development Budget Coordination Committee and set a higher spending and borrowing program,” said the groups.

They noted that the Philippines, according to the International Monetary Fund, “has fiscal space” to fund recovery programs but is spending little compared to its neighbors.

“We deserve better than this buck-passing and bureaucratic foot-dragging. We call on our leaders to practice what they preach: genuine bayanihan. The governing bodies with the power to act on the two-step plan to fund Bayanihan 3 have one person in common: The buck stops with President Duterte,” they added.

The organizations that signed the statement include the Citizens’ Budget Tracker; Institute for Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy; Action for Economic Reforms; AltMobility PH; COVID-19 Action Network Philippines; Move As One Coalition; and the National Confederation of Transportworkers Union.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said on Thursday that it supported the call of Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House ways and means committee, to ensure that the government help public transport workers earn a decent income.

The LTFRB said the current service contracting program provided an opportunity for displaced drivers to earn per kilometer in their daily trips, with or without passengers.

Drivers contracted get P27 per km for jeepneys and P45per km for buses, while drivers of jeepneys and buses are given P52.50 per km and P82.50 per km, respectively. INQ