WEEKS after being approved by both chambers of Congress, President Rodrigo Duterte finally signed the Bayanihan to Recover As One or Bayanihan 2, which seeks to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the absence of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque who is on quarantine, Duterte’s long time aide, now Senator Bong Go made the announcement to the media.
It was last month when the both chambers of Congress ratified the bill.
Bayanihan 2, which provides for a stimulus package of P140 billion in regular appropriation and P25 billion as standby funding, will mostly be allotted to loans for sectors hit by the pandemic like micro, small and medium-scale enterprises, transport, tourism and agriculture.
Likewise part of it is an allocation for allowances to students in both private and public elementary schools, high schools, and colleges whose families were affected by work stoppage due to lockdowns.
Further, Bayanihan 2 provides for the government’s health-related responses like including the retroactive payment of the P100,000 hazard duty pay for health workers; employment of existing emergency health workers; risk allowance of public and private health workers attending to COVID-19 patients, among others.