TAGUIG Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday called for an inquiry into the use of funds appropriated under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws to find out why billions of pesos in the two stimulus packages have remained unreleased and unutilized.
Cayetano’s House Resolution No. 1731 seeks to “see which programs were effective and which were not and determine how good or how bad the implementation was… If they were effective, do we legislate more of such programs? If not effective, why weren’t they? We must also propose alternatives.”
The measure is co-authored by Rep. Lani Cayetano (NP, Taguig), Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte (NP, Camarines Sur), Rep Raneo Abu (NP, Batangas), Rep. Dan Fernandez (NUP, Laguna), Rep. Michael Defensor (PL, Anakalusugan), and Rep. Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado (NUP, Bulacan).
In calling for an audit of the Bayanihan fund appropriations, the lawmakers said immediate relief and mitigation of the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic “are paramount during this time when our countrymen are in dire need of social assistance.”
The resolution cited the last report submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) under the Bayanihan 1 which showed that around P1.5 billion allocated for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) or Emergency Subsidy Program for non-4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) “has not been disbursed.”
The same report said around P500 million allotted for SAP 4Ps beneficiaries under the Bayanihan 1 has likewise not been disbursed until now.
The resolution also said that for Bayanihan 2, the DBM “failed to show the utilization rate by majority of the agencies concerned” in its report to the JCOC on January 4, 2021, which was the latest and final report submitted to Congress.
“It is necessary to determine the utilization rate of implementing agencies not only to see how they performed, but also to help streamline the process of budget legislation, identify and solve problems in the budget execution stage, and strengthen the government’s ability to deliver services,” it said.
The resolution noted the DSWD has unused funds amounting to P75 billion from its regular budget, and P6.7 billion from allocations in Bayanihan 1 and 2.
The Department of Education, for its part, was allotted P4 billion for the implementation of Digital Education, Information Technology (IT), and digital infrastructures and alternative learning modalities but “only issued its implementing guidelines on 16 December 2020 and the program is yet to be implemented.”
“The ability of government agencies to implement projects, activities, and programs reflects on its ability to utilize appropriations, or its absorptive capacity,” the resolution said, adding the government “must implement the budget in the most prudent, efficient, and timely manner possible, especially in times of public emergencies.”
At the Senate, Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto pushed for a “mandatory review” of the Department of Health’s fund disbursement following reports that it failed to utilize funds meant to purchase intensive care unit equipment meant for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recto made the call amid reports that the DOH missed the chance of securing 200 additional ICU beds from an Austrian company late last year. This has been denied by the DOH.
“One year, one million cases later, was the DOH able to buy enough ventilators, ICU units, high-flow oxygen machines? … In any war, we should always look at the logistics. For the frontlines to keep on fighting, the supply lines must keep on running,” Recto said.
Reports said the DOH bungled a deal with an Austrian company for the “deliver-now-pay-later” ICU beds, which reportedly led to a shouting match in a Cabinet meeting where Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was allegedly reprimanded.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque has denied the report but clarified that the deal covered 200 hospital beds, including 15 ICU beds. He added that the Austrian firm is expected to submit a proposal next week after authorities have identified where the ICU beds will be needed. — With Raymond Africa
