THE House of Representatives on Thursday approved at the committee level and endorsed for plenary deliberations a measure providing for a P1.5-trillion social amelioration program to address unemployment in the wake of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Defeat COVID committee which Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano co-chairs with majority leader Martin Romualdez approved House Bill 6709, or the proposed COVID-19 Unemployment Reduction Economic Stimulus (CURES) Act of 2020.
The bill is anchored on the principle that government spending on infrastructure is a vehicle towards economic recovery from the pandemic as it directly increases employment, adds to demand for goods and services through purchases of materials and equipment, and creates a multiplier effect through additional spending of hired workers.
Projects under the proposed CURES Act of 2020 shall target infrastructure building at the barangay level in areas of HEAL: Health for the construction or improvement of barangay municipal health centers; Education, for expansion of school buildings to decongest classrooms, technical vocational learning centers, establishment of digital education in the public educational system; Agriculture, for construction, repair or improvement of municipal provincial fish ports, trading centers; and Local roads and livelihood projects such as farm to market roads.
The same panel last Tuesday approved the P1.3 trillion economic stimulus measure under the proposed Philippine Economic Stimulus Act (PESA), the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) bill and the Anti-Discrimination Bill against COVID patients and suspected carriers of the virus.
With the CURES Act of 2020, Romualdez said: “We seek to create millions of jobs that will spring from infrastructure projects in the rural areas and, eventually, will lead to the recovery of the economy.”
“We seek to end the unemployment problem through massive investment on public infrastructure, which we describe as shovel-ready projects. This strategy, at the same time, aims to provide a solid impetus to the government’s Balik Probinsiya program by creating jobs in the countryside,” Romualdez said.
Deputy speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said local HEAL projects are needed to create jobs and other livelihood opportunities in the countryside, especially for Filipinos whose incomes were lost or reduced because of the COVID-19 crisis.
He said government has to create a significant number of jobs in rural areas via accelerated infrastructure investments to discourage people in the provinces from flocking to Metro Manila and other urban centers.
“How can we create enough jobs in the countryside if the bulk of state infrastructure investments remain concentrated in Metro Manila and other urban centers?” he said.
The panel has also approved a measure which seeks to impose for the next three years strict mandatory safety and physical distancing protocols being enforced now to avoid the further spread of the virus.
House Bill 6623, or the proposed “Better Normal for the Workplace, Communities and Public Spaces Act of 2020,” aims to prepare and educate Filipinos after the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the national government and local government units (LGUs) to contain the spread of COVID-19 through new norms of social or physical distancing and safety measures in government and private offices, schools, commercial establishments and other public spaces.
The DCC also approved HB No. 6707, which seeks to establish baseline PCR testing as the protocol for COVID-19 testing and requires that these be made available, affordable and accessible.
The measure mandates the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to shoulder the cost of testing for vulnerable members of society who shall undergo baseline polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to detect COVID-19 infection.
For his part, Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. urged the government to launch subsidy and loan programs for teachers and other school personnel in public and private schools now that the opening of classes remains uncertain.
Under Resolution No. 905, Gonzales urged the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and National Economic and Development Authority to extend loan and subsidy programs for school personnel.
He noted that President Duterte, recognizing the risk the pandemic poses to school children and the people in general, has taken the position that classes would not resume in August as set by the DepEd, unless there is a vaccine to fight the coronavirus disease.
Gonzales said the delay in the opening of classes would seriously affect the employment and income of teachers and non-teaching staff, especially those working in private schools.
On Monday, the President said allowing students to return to school amid the pandemic would only “spell disaster.”
