President Rodrigo Duterte must use his emergency power to bring the government’s spending for Covid 19 response back on track, according to a Quezon City councilor.
District 5 councilor Karl Castelo said exercising the emergency power of the President can legitimize the use of unspent Covid-related budget faster than resorting to legislation.
Covid budget untouched by state agencies due to the lapse of Bayanihan 2 recently rose from P168 billion to more than P170 billion.
Covid budget untouched by state agencies due to the lapse of Bayanihan 2 recently rose from P168 billion to more than P170 billion.
“Making a law takes a lot of time while activating an emergency power only requires a signature of the President,” Castelo said.
Castelo said there should be no further delay in the implementation of important programs against the pandemic as the fate of the citizens and economy of the nation depend on them,” Castelo said.
Covid budget untouched by state agencies due to the lapse of Bayanihan 2 recently rose from P168 billion to more than P170 billion based on additional data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
“If we’re just going to freeze these funds, how are we going to implement programs on the hiring of health workers and contact tracers, laboratory testing, service contracts for public transport workers, subsidies for students and formal and informal workers, and cash aid for the poor, and more,” Castelo said.
Castelo said “halting these responses against the deadly virus would only put to waste all the gains we earned from our collective efforts in the past,” he added.
Castelo said there should be no further delay in the implementation of important programs against the pandemic.
“Now is not the time to stop because we are making progress in our drive to defeat the pandemic,” Castelo said.
Castelo was referring to the declining number of new Covid cases in the country particularly in Metro Manila and the steady arrival of more vaccines from global suppliers.
