Albay Rep. Joey Salceda (File photo)
MANILA – The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday said meeting the revised growth targets of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) will depend on the management of the public health situation and the passage of a third Bayanihan package.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda made the statement in response to the economic managers' move to slash the 2021 growth assumption to 4 to 5 percent given the brunt of the strictest quarantine classification imposed to address risks from the more contagious Covid-19 Delta variant.
“Everything will depend on whether we can keep ourselves from having to declare lockdowns over broad swathes of the economy, and on whether we can pass a third Bayanihan package to bolster our health response,” Salceda said.
He noted that the country's economic projections were usually adjusted each time a major surge takes place.
"The first time we revised the 2021 targets, it was because of the provincial surges in May. The second one was because of the NCR (National Capital Region) lockdowns and the delays in the arrivals of vaccines," he said.
Salceda also said vaccine arrivals picking up steam will help ensure positive economic performance this year.
“Anticipated targeted cumulative vaccine arrivals was at 56,386,810 doses. Only 42,575,350 vaccine doses have arrived so far. The largest delays were among the private sector orders," he said.
Salceda cited that as a result of vaccine delays, the seven-day average of vaccine rollout has been in a continuous decline since Aug. 5 at 548,000 doses 7-day trailing average.
As of Aug. 15, a total of 12.6 million Filipinos have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, Salceda said, is just 11.63 percent of the country's population.
He said the House leadership and the economic managers are “mutually sold on some form of Bayanihan 3" in view of the emerging economic situation.
“Without a Bayanihan package to help us speed things up on the health front, we might have a much harder time recovering.” Salceda said. “That is why we are hard at work in negotiating a third Bayanihan package with the economic managers. We are already meeting halfway."
He highlighted that the House has already reduced its request to PHP170.1 billion in pandemic response and cash aid (ayuda).
"We had a meeting with the economic managers, and the Department of Budget and Management has already found funding for at least 50 percent of the request,” Salceda said.
He said another option that will fully fund the package means abandoning the unobligated items in the 2021 budget.
“I don’t want to preempt the House leadership’s decision, but we’re trying to go for a mix of both. There is a clause in our proposed Bayanihan package that grants the President the power to abandon unobligated items in the budget and realign them towards pandemic response and economic relief, primarily ayuda,” he said. (PNA)
