House panel approves P 405.6-B Bayanihan 3’s revenue provisions

The House ways and means committee approved on Monday the revenue provisions of the proposed P405.6-billion Bayanihan 3 “without amendments.”

The committee approved Section 34 of the still unnumbered substitute bill, which authorized the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to make additional advances with or without interest to the national government to finance expenditures authorized by law to address and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Provided that such additional direct provisional advances, shall not, in their aggregate, exceed the 10 percent of the average income of the national government for fiscal years 2018 to 2020,” the provision read.

Under Section 35 of the proposed bill, the finance secretary is mandated to submit to the joint executive-legislative Bayanihan Council the list of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and their respective annual net earnings.

The council will then recommend to the President a list of GOCCs that could be mandated to increase their dividend remittances to the government to fund the Bayanihan 3, the provision added.

Rep. Joey Salceda, the House tax chief, said “we are now at high fiscal deficit levels,” thus, his committee has come up with provisions that would provide sources of funding for the stimulus package without additional borrowings.

The joint House committees on economic affairs and social services approved on Friday the multibillion Bayanihan 3, which includes two rounds of cash aid amounting to P1,000 for every Filipino.

The cash aid would be given to 108 million Filipinos regardless of social status.

House Deputy Minority Leader Stella Quimbo, one of the authors of Bayanihan 3, said individuals may choose to waive the P1,000 cash aid.

“There is a provision in the bill that would allow individuals to waive assistance. For instance, you are from Forbes Park and you think you can waive your share, you can,” Quimbo told reporters in an online interview.

She explained that aside from the two rounds of P1,000 cash aid, she said, the Department of Social Welfare and Development would extend P30 billion as emergency assistance to affected households under its “Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation” program.

After the approval of the House ways and means panel, the bill would now be tackled by the appropriations committee before it would be returned to the mother committee for the committee report to be approved, Quimbo said. INQ