Sectors appeal for ‘Bayanihan’ action

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Various sectors urged the national government to extend its existing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic relief package and to swiftly enact proposed additional relief package to aid transport workers, medical frontliners, and ultimately the economy.

Transport advocacy group Move As One Coalition (MAOC) held a virtual press conference last week to discuss the importance of the extension of the national assistance and how it would affect key sectors during the continuing pandemic, which broke out in the Philippines in March 2020.

MAOC previously called on the national government to further extend Republic Act No. 11494 (Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or ‘Bayanihan 2’) in relation to pending payments to transport drivers and operators under the Department of Transportation’s service contracting program.

R.A. 11494, the second tranche of the government’s signature ‘Bayanihan’ pandemic response program, was extended to June 30, 2021 via R.A. No. 11519 which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 29, 2020, or 10 days after lapsed on Dec. 19.

According to a Philippine News Agency report, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque had confirmed that P18.4 billion under Bayanihan 2 remained unobligated.

The participating sectors to the press briefing also called Congress to urgently pass the P401-billion ‘Bayanihan to Arise as One’ bill to continue to address the economic needs of the people amid the pandemic.

The proposed third pandemic relief package was passed almost unanimously by the House of Representatives last June 1.

BUDGETARY AND FISCAL PROBLEMS

Filomeno Sta. Ana III, a Senior Economist with the Action for Economic Reforms, highlighted two related economic concerns – fiscal problem and budgetary problem – in highlighting the necessity for increased spending.

Sta. Ana said that the Philippines was “being stingy” with its “credit-worthiness”, citing Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez’s previous pronouncement that the country’s borrowing cap was only at 60 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He pointed out that it was the same borrowing cap being used by advanced economies in the European Union (EU) under its Growth and Stability Pact.

He said it was “unusual” for a country not under EU membership to follow its debt cap, given the situation of the current pandemic. He also cited the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) April 2021 Fiscal Monitor, showing that the Philippines’ gross debt position is at 51.88 percent, which he says is still below the global average of 65 percent of a country’s GDP.

“This benchmark applies during normal times. But the current situation is far from normal. Further, the EU’s fiscal and monetary parameters have been criticized as conservative. Even before the pandemic, EU members as a whole breached the 60 percent benchmark. So why should the Philippines, a developing county tie itself to a conservative EU benchmark that applies to advanced economies during normal conditions? Here’s the thing: During the pandemic, the government borrowing of EU members had shot up to 90.7 percent of GDP,” Sta. Ana said.

He said that the country must use its current credit ratings to its advantage and continue borrowing “because the lending agencies will”.

The Bureau of Treasury’s data indicated that as of April 2021, the outstanding national debt has swelled to P10 trillion.

“[The] Philippine government borrowing can even exceed the average 65 percent of GDP because we are creditworthy. Credit rating agencies have given us an investment-grade rating, thanks to the series of tax reforms. That means financial institutions will be willing to lend money to us at lower interest rates to boot. The idea behind securing a good credit rating is to use it, when needed. The credit-rating agencies say we can borrow more. So does the IMF. So does the World Bank. So does the chorus of Filipino economists. Enough said,” he said.

As to budgetary concerns, Sta. Ana called the national budget as “unresponsive” to the country’s health needs especially due to the pandemic, adding that R.A. No. 11518 (General Appropriations Act of 2021) was a “budget which kills people”.

He cited the transfer of funds primarily from social welfare and health programs to projects “which line the pockets of congressmen”, amounting to P220 billion, particularly anti-insurgency budgets.

According to issuances found on the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) website, R.A. 11518’s allocations for the Department of Defense amounted to P210.2 billion (from 2020’s P179.7 billion), and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has a P19.4-billion budget tagged for development.

Sta. Ana compared the amount to the P2 billion allocation for COVID-19 vaccination, while lamenting the lack of budgets for testing, contact tracing, and additional direct financial support to the people or more commonly known as ‘ayuda’.

He offered two suggestions: to increase spending with adjusted priorities, and re-allocate the budget to reflect these priorities.

“[T]he budget contained other questionable items like the abnormally high allocation for counter-insurgency and intelligence. To be brutally frank, the 2021 General Appropriations Act is a budget that kills people—less spending for pandemic response; more spending for bullets. If government would want to rectify these errors, it has to do two things. First, increase government spending that prioritizes health, social protection, and job preservation. Second, do an inter-sectoral budget reallocation that will reflect the priorities for health, social relief and job protection,” Sta. Ana said.

FOCUS ACTION ON COVID RESPONSE

Dr. Eddie Dorotan, Lead Convenor of the COVID-19 Action Network Philippines, a group established to coordinate COVID-19 action across sectors, shed light on the growing number of cases outside the National Capital Region (NCR).

Dorotan said that while the surge in cases had diminished in the capital region and surrounding areas, it has been growing in other areas of the country such as in the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan De Oro, and Bicol Region.

He highlighted the necessity of the P6.6 billion supplemental budget under R.A. 11518, saying that the health sector was “bleeding out” to contain COVID-19 spread, and that not being able to increase spending of the health budget will, in turn, hurt the country economically.

“While our doctors, nurses, and health workers are tending to positive [COVID-19] cases, isolating testing, treating, we are also vaccinating. Who is vaccinating? Our health workers also, and therefore, we need more people for the health sector. We cannot remove the P6.6 billion allocated under Bayanihan 2. In fact, we need more. We still need more things to spend on. We need more doctors, nurses, and midwives, and more budget for tracing, testing, and isolation,” Dorotan said.

LAMENTATIONS FROM THE SEAMS

Dr. Katerina Abiertas, Municipal Health Officer of Motiong, Samar, and a member of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines, became emotional as she shared the struggle that many in the public health sector have continued to face at this time.

Abiertas called out the availability of remaining funds, saying that the health sectors in the lowest levels would need more funding to support their COVID-19 response measures.

She said that she and 14 other workers, who have been confirmed positive cases, are still checking on COVID-positive patients in their town while waiting for their test results.

This also included one of her staff, who was in-charge of COVID-19 testing in their town.

Abiertas added that an isolation facility set up for health workers in their town and neighboring towns are already starting to fill up, with their town’s allocation of isolation quarters already full, and workers from other towns already testing positive for the disease as well.

A nurse from the Department of Health (DOH) who was tasked in monitoring Abiertas also recently tested positive for COVID-19.

She said the only help they are asking for was additional hazard pay and additional assistance to allow them to rest.

“Is this okay for you, one health worker, COVID positive, taking care of another COVID-positive physician, and this physician has 14 health workers under her care who she is also taking care of? We want to help the country and our fellow Filipinos but please, it shouldn’t be in exchange of our lives. It’s difficult to produce one health worker at this time, so for us who are already here, please take care of us,” said a teary-eyed Abiertas.

She also mentioned her concern for those who had gone down from the town’s mountainous areas just to get vaccinated, saying that some of them may have been affected too.

“We are really tired but we continue to fight because we know that no one else can do it for our fellows here. If you really can do something to help us and make health workers’ lives easier, we hope you do it. Because we promise, that if you take care of us, we will continue to fight and serve the country,” Abiertas said.

SERVICE CONTRACTING

Reah Angela Laton, a jeepney operator whose husband drives their jeepney, and a member of the National Confederation of Transport Workers Unions, shared their economic struggles amid the pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, Laton and her husband have been looking for ways to earn since public transportation has been heavily regulated from the beginning of pandemic-related lockdowns.

She said that the government’s service contracting program gave them life as it awakened their hope,  adding they were able to earn up to P25,000 to help with their needs even with the lack of passengers.

The DOTr’s Service Contracting Program Manual states that drivers will receive an initial net payout of P4,000 to buy smartphones which they will use under the program.

Using Net-Based Service Contracting, drivers will get to keep fares they collected, with an additional performance-based payout from the DOTr and the LTFRB based on the whole kilometer distance they run daily.

Payouts are supposedly facilitated weekly through mobile applications such as GCash or PayMaya, or through bank accounts with state-run Landbank of the Philippines.

“We have been making do to answer our daily needs and fit our daily earnings. We earn just right for one day, which can only fit for one kilogram of rice, one type of meal, and if there is ever excess, to buy other needs. Many things changed in transportation. When service contracting came, it’s like we came back to life, because even if we didn’t have any passengers, we would receive something every week,” Laton said.

She hopes that the Bayanihan 2 would continue to extend, saying that drivers and operators continue to need the benefits of the program.

“Especially now that we have fewer passengers, we need it. If there are problems with payout in service contracting, maybe this can be fixed and be solved easily,” she said.

In Iloilo, Monica Acha, Vice-Chairperson of the Province of Iloilo Transport Service Cooperative, told Daily Guardian via a message that out of 106 units participating in the said program, half of them (53) have not received their initial payout and incentives.

EDUCATION SECTOR, FORGOTTEN?

Reg Sibal, a mother, teacher, and member of Aral Pilipinas Coalition, made the case for continued additional support to the education sector, which she suggested was being forgotten amid the response to the pandemic.

She narrated that she saw the difficulties faced by parents, teachers, and learners alike, and suggested that the public sector’s focus was on the economy and may have forgotten the education sector.

She cited a statement from a parent leader, who she said was struggling juggling between feeding their children and getting them to learn from school, despite being beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Sibal also said that local government units have affirmed the challenges in the current remote learning modalities, which include lack of access to internet, radio, tv and materials; difficulty in access to and delivery of learning materials; mental health of parents, teachers and students; assessment of learning; and concerns over vaccination and health of teachers and learners.

Aral Pilipinas’ call, she said, was to initiate in-person learning in low risk areas, and to provide additional funding for the continuation of the blended learning modality, as support for both teachers and families.

“We need to ensure that there is support to the needs of learners. Our teachers, learners, and parents are struggling, and we have to help each other. We hope that they be given sufficient support and funding. We see the importance of various sectors in championing education, as seen in our multi-sectoral framework, where transportation, the home, community, and the school are critical and essential. It is important to have safeguards from home to school, and from school to home. It is very important that responsive and contextualized plans and solutions have their adequate support and budget,” said Sibal.