Malacañang does not see a problem should Congress fail to pass the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill on third and final reading before it adjourns sine die on June 5.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the country’s economic managers have assured there is enough available funds from the 2021 national budget and the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2 to sustain the government’s COVID-19 response and economic recovery efforts.
“We are grateful to the House for Bayanihan 3 but the consistent position of the economic team led by Finance Secretary [Carlos III] Dominguez is we will first see if we have enough in our budget for 2021. And apart from that, we still have remaining funds from Bayanihan 2,” the Palace official said in a briefing Monday.
He said the Bayanihan 3 is a good “fallback” but said there is no need to rush its passage.
“We welcome Bayanihan 3 as a fallback but it looks like there’s no urgent need to pass it because we are still spending funds from our existing budget,” Roque said.
“There will be no problem if Bayanihan 3 is not passed during the second regular session of the 18th Congress,” he added.
On May 25, the House of Representatives approved on second reading the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill which provides funds amounting to over P401 billion to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill was not certified as urgent by Malacañang, the bill would face final reading three session days after it was approved on second reading. Its counterpart measure in the Senate has yet to move forward.
Meanwhile, the proposed economic revisions in the 1987 Charter remained “very much alive and can still succeed within this year,” a congressional leader said on Monday.
Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo, an assistant majority leader, made the statement in reaction to speculations that the measure is dead in the water as the Senate would no longer tackle it before Congress goes on its annual mandatory adjournment. Maricel V. Cruz
Castelo said the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 2 of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco is still with the House, which is set to pass it on third and final reading this week.
RBH 2, supported by 293 of the 300 members of the House, proposes to relax the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution by empowering Congress to change such restrictions whenever the economic situation requires it.