Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte said Thursday that President Duterte’s signing of laws extending the validity of unspent funds under both the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA) and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) will let the government further accelerate public spending and fast-track the recovery of the domestic economy from the pandemic-induced global economic turmoil.
In welcoming the President’s enactment into law of both congressional bills that he co-authored, Villafuerte said that increased public investments are needed to jumpstart economic activity and boost consumer spending, especially amid the reality that “we still have a long way to go before this lingering lethal virus is defeated across the globe.”
“Mass vaccination against COVID-19 in the Philippines will not likely be completed in a year’s time, which is why we need to remain vigilant against transmission and to continue spending big on risk management and fiscal stimulus measures that will reinvigorate the economy, restore business and consumer confidence, and help people and businesses get back on their feet as quickly as possible,” said Villafuerte who was the lead author in the House of Representatives of both the Bayanihan To Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1) and Bayanihan 2.
Villafuerte, who sponsored separate bills extending the validity of Bayanihan 2 and the 2020 GAA, said “the government needs to spend a lot more on measures to stimulate economic activity, provide relief to pandemic-hit businesses and boost consumer spending amid forecasts by institutions like the World Bank and Moody’s Analytics that it will be a slow recovery for the Philippines that has not been spending as much as its neighbors on fiscal stimulus programs.”
He said in HB 8173 that the extension will also cover “the other powers provided under the said law that will enable the government to provide emergency assistance for vulnerable groups and individuals, expand medical resources to fight COVID-19, and finance emergency initiatives keeping the economy inundated.”
Villafuerte issued this statement as Malacañang announced on Wednesday the President’s enactment of Republic Act (RA) 11520, which extended the availability of the P4.1-trillion 2020 GAA 2020 until Dec. 31, 2021; and RA 11519, which stretched the availability of funds appropriated through the Bayanihan 2 until June 30, 2021.
In HB 8173—one of the House bills extending the effectivity of Bayanihan 2—Villafuerte explained that the extension shall “give the government the opportunity to continuously implement the recovery and stimulus programs specified in Bayanihan 2, most especially in allocating funds for more essential necessary and relevant items and expenses to recover from the distressing effects of this global pandemic.”
He said in HB 8173 that the extension will also cover “the other powers provided under the said law that will enable the government to provide emergency assistance for vulnerable groups and individuals, expand medical resources to fight COVID-19, and finance emergency initiatives keeping the economy inundated.”
Villafuerte also pushed last year the approval of a Bayanihan 3 bill, this time for special funds for the massive rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in his home-region of Bicol and other areas in Luzon pummeled by the three strong powerful storms—Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses—that hit the country in quick succession in the last quarter of 2020.
‘The country coming to an end from this public health crisis is yet improbable and unforeseeable. There still persists a threat not only to the people’s livelihoods but most importantly to one’s precious life,” Villafuerte said.
On January 6, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 1,047 new cases of COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of recorded positive cases to 22,690.
The DOH also reported a total of 9,347 deaths from the virus as of that date.
‘The country coming to an end from this public health crisis is yet improbable and unforeseeable. There still persists a threat not only to the people’s livelihoods but most importantly to one’s precious life.”
Based on the latest pronouncements of National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and COVID-19 vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr, the government might be able to procure Chinese vaccines by March 2021 yet if a contract would be signed this month.
Vaccine doses that the Philippines will purchase from Pfizer might arrive between the second and third quarter of 2021, Galvez said.
In its January 2021 Global Economic Prospects report, World Bank Group president David Malpass said that, “To overcome the impacts of the pandemic and counter the investment headwind, there needs to be a major push to improve business environments, increase labor and product market flexibility, and strengthen transparency and governance.”
The World Bank retained its projection of an 8.1% contraction for the Philippines in 2020, putting it among the list of “economies that suffered the worst declines.” Also in this list are Malaysia, Thailand, Fiji, Palau, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste.
Moody’s Analytics, meanwhile, expects the Philippines to be the last country in the Asia-Pacific region to regain its pre-pandemic growth level as it continues to struggle with its vaccine procurement and carries out a relatively smaller fiscal stimulus.
Moody’s Analytics projects a 9.9-percent contraction for the Philippine economy in 2020, a 4.5-percent growth this year, and a 6.2-percent growth in 2022.
It sees the country regaining its growth momentum by late 2022 yet, in contrast to most other economies in the region like Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and Australia that Moody’s Analytics expects to recover this year. China, Taiwan and Vietnam already recovered last year, it said.
“India and the Philippines are the least committed to fiscal stimulus, even though they were the two most hard-hit economies from COVID-19 and their subsequent lengthy and strict quarantine policies,” it added.