The House of Representatives, under the leadership of incoming Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez, is committed to passing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s legislative agenda.
These include the Bayanihan-type legislation to be called Bayan Bangon Muli (BBM) and resetting the scheduled December barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, which would save P8 billion that can be used to fight the pandemic and the 2023 national budget.
Romualdez said the 19th Congress will ensure that the priority legislation of the Marcos administration will be aided and supported with measures that will allow the President to pursue his agenda for the people.
“President Marcos’ initials, BBM or Bayan Bangon Muli bill stimulus package, will allow him to harness the resources available during the closing period of 2022 and [pass] measures that are needed for the pandemic, hopefully, endemic stage of this COVID,” Romualdez said.
The BBM bill is seen as the successor of the Bayanihan laws passed to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on the economy.
Romualdez said the BBM bill would help the news administration “harness whatever remaining resources [are available] to stimulate the economy and to reinvigorate it.”
The House’s resident economist, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, earlier proposed ways to fund the BBM bill:
• A “cash sweep” similar to what was ordered by Executive Order 87 by President Rodrigo Duterte, which mandated the reversion to the Treasury of accounts payable from three years before the issuance of the EO in 2019.
• The package can be in the form of a supplemental appropriations bill with “unprogrammed allocations” that can be funded in a manner similar to other unprogrammed allocations in the regular General Appropriations Act. Augmentation, excess revenues, and other relevant provisions under unprogrammed allocations in the 2022 GAA can be lifted into this provision.
• Adopt the Bayanihan provision on the power to discontinue programs, projects, and activities, provided that certain parameters for discontinuance can be set, and place a moratorium on some wasteful spending practices, such as yearend on-site seminars.
• The package can include a provision that utilizes any unused funds in Special Purpose Funds for the programs under the package.
• A provision that allows the President to use unused or unreleased subsidies to government-owned or -controlled corporations and government agencies that will no longer be able to finish the program subsidized this year.
Salceda said: “Let us give the new administration a chance to fund and enact its own plans and programs for the country’s economic recovery.”
Meanwhile, Romualdez earlier said more than P8 billion in savings could be generated if the barangay elections set for this year would be postponed. He suggested that the savings could instead be allocated for COVID-19 response and economic stimulus, as well as aid for those who suffered from the pandemic.
Outgoing Assistant Majority Leader and Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas had appealed to the incoming Congress to prioritize legislation where the government may explore aid mechanisms for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), tourism establishments, and small private schools in the form of employee wage grants, interest-free loans, or other forms of assistance to help them recover.
“Our economic recovery rests on the recovery of businesses and enterprises whose operations will help provide jobs and stimulate economic activity,” Vargas said. The oppressive economic effects of the pandemic continue to be felt by the poor and other vulnerable sectors, he added.
“Aid in the form of financial and food assistance remains to be the most immediate lifeline that government can extend to them,” said Vargas, chair of the House social services committee.
He also expressed confidence that Congress under Romualdez will be able to provide the new administration the needed budgetary support to continue providing aid for sectors affected by the pandemic.
The 2023 national budget will also be a top priority of the Romualdez leadership.
Incoming Budget Secretary, Amenah Pangandaman, said the new administration will “aspire to draft and implement a budget that will promote a broad-based and inclusive economic recovery and growth.”
Measures that will help ease the impact of increasing oil prices should also be the priority of the 19th Congress, according to reelected ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro.
“The consecutive big-time oil price has taken a huge toll on our people. Prices of basic services and commodities like food have started to increase as well because of the high cost of fuel,” she said.
Castro said her group, the Makabayan Bloc, will file bills aimed at mitigating the effects of the oil crisis.
These measures include the repeal of VAT and excise taxes imposed on fuel; unbundling oil prices to show transparency in oil and petroleum products; repealing the Oil Deregulation Law and enactment of a new policy framework to ensure that oil prices are within reasonable costs and regulated;
The buy-back of Petron to provide the public with a state-owned alternative to acquire oil and petroleum products; and the establishment of a National Petroleum Exchange Corporation to serve as the central import and distribution hub of oil and petroleum products.
“The repeal of VAT and excise taxes imposed on fuel can already provide an average of P27 per liter. Unbundling the oil prices will give the people transparency and show the people where every peso spent per litter goes,” Castro added.
“Now more than ever, the government must act with utmost urgency in the skyrocketing prices of oil. This matter needs an urgent response from the government or else the prices of basic goods will only continue to rise, and more Filipinos will suffer from hunger,” Castro said.
Salceda, chairperson of the House committee on ways and means, for his part, vowed to refile the proposed Center for Disease Control that will allow the government to respond to “sudden-onset” health emergencies, or emergencies that have the potential to break out and spread very quickly.
As principal author of the bill at the House in the last 18th Congress, Salceda said the enactment of the measure will enable the CDC to focus on fighting infectious diseases, particularly on a decisive response at the pre-communicable stage, including the apprehension of pre-communicable individuals if needed, because this is where outbreaks can be prevented.
The bill was priority legislation of the Duterte administration. “I hope President Marcos will also make it his priority, as PRRD did. It was sponsored on the Senate floor, but there was not enough time in the 18th Congress,” Salceda said as he vowed to refile the measure.
“So, I will refile it, and this time, we will hopefully be able to get it through Congress. Because the infections you want to deal with will not go away.”