DOF: Govt spends P352.7B for COVID-19 response

MANILA, Philippines — The government has so far spent P352.7 billion for its programs in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

“Ang katotohanan po, ang budget natin para sa 2020 ay P4.1 trillion at so far, ang nagastos po natin is already, for this COVID, is, na hindi natin plinano, is 352.7 billion pesos na,” Dominguez said in a televised briefing on Friday.

(The truth is, our budget for 2020 is P4.1 trillion, what we spent already for this COVID, that we did not plan for, is already at P352.7 billion).

Dominguez said these funds were sourced from tax collections, savings, as well as loans from multilateral agencies.

“Itong amount na-finance natin partly sa tax collection—pero bumababa na ho ‘yung tax collection natin—(sa) balanse fininance (finance) sa sarili nating savings,” he said.

(This amount that we financed is partly from tax collection–but our tax collection is depleting—we financed the balance from our own savings).

“Humiram pa tayo ng pera sa mga multilateral agencies kagaya ng (Asian Development Bank) at World Bank,” he added.

(We also borrowed money from multilateral agencies like the Asian Development Bank) and World Bank).

While he assured that the government has “sufficient” funds, Dominguez said the government is having problems in terms of its budget allowance.

“So far, sufficiente po yung cash natin pero naiiipit na po tayo sa budget allowance natin. Yan po ang problema natin ngayon,” he said.

(So far, our cash is sufficient but we are being compressed in terms of our budget allowance. That’s what our problem is.)

“May cash ho tayo pero wala tayong authority na gumastos ng ganoong kalaki. So we’re making sure na lahat ng gastos natin is number one for the benefit of yung pinakamahirap sa bayan natin,” he added.

(We have cash but we don’t have the authority to spend that much. So we are making sure that all our spending is number one for the benefit of the poorest in our country).

Dominguez added that the government would be reserving funds for projects under the Build, Build, Build program.

“Rinereserba ho natin ‘yung balanse para sa mga Build, Build, Build projects natin para nang ‘pag natapos na itong COVID, may pera tayo pang-invest sa Build, Build, Build ho,” he said.

(We are reserving the balance for our Build, Build, Build projects so that once this COVID crisis is over, we would still have money to invest in the Build, Build, Build, program).

“We will (also) create jobs and we will create business opportunities with that,” he added.

/MUF