FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Tuesday said the government has spent around P258 billion so far, or 73 percent of the P352 billion it has released for the government’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response programs.
Dominguez said the DOF reprogrammed appropriations in the 2019 and 2020 budgets to cover the P352 billion unplanned fund releases.
The funds came from the tax collections of state revenue agencies; income from actual dividend collections from government-owned and controlled corporations; and concessional loans and grants provided by multilateral lenders such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
Data gathered by the DOF from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed that as of April 23, the government has released a total of P200.42 billion for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and other economic relief measures for poor households and other vulnerable groups. The amount was released by the DBM to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which distributes the SAP with the assistance of local government units.
Another P6.435 billion was released to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for its assistance program for workers affected by the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and similar containment measures in other parts of the country.
A total of P51 billion was released to the Social Security System for the implementation of the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program for some 3.4 million qualified workers of 1.6 million small businesses.
The DOF said the rest of the P352 billion went to the Department of Health for the procurement of testing kits, and other essential medical supplies to contain the spread of the virus; the Department of Science and Technology for the production of locally produced COVID-19 testing kits; other state agencies to finance budget requirements for temporary COVID-19 treatment and monitoring facilities, and the emergency repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers; and the LGUs for the allocation of the Bayanihan Grants to provinces, cities and municipalities.
“So far, we have sufficient cash but we are limited in our budget allowance,” Dominguez has said at a previous televised briefing, adding: “That’s our problem now. We have cash but we don’t have the authority to spend that big.”
Dominguez said the government is keeping the budget for its Build, Build, Build infrastructure projects intact to create jobs and revitalize the economy once COVID-19 is effectively contained and the lockdown in the National Capital Region and other high-risk areas are lifted.
“We’re making sure that all our spending is number, one, for the benefit of the poorest in our country and we are reserving the balance for our ‘Build, Build, Build’ projects. We will create jobs and we will create business opportunities with that,” he said.
