The government needs to obligate the P173 billion for Bayanihan 2 before the end of the law’s effectivity on June 30 to ramp up COVID vaccination and eventually recover from the lockdown-caused economic slump, Senator Kiko Pangilinan said.
Noting the spikes in COVID cases in the provinces, Pangilinan also said the government needs a lot of catching up to do to achieve its promised herd immunity of 70 million Filipinos inoculated by the end of the year.
“Kami ay may agam-agam dahil right now 100,000 jabs a day pa lang tayo at ang projection ay dapat end of the year maka-70 million jabs tayo, at kung iko-compute natin ‘yan, dapat 700,000 a day ang ating vaccine jabs. Kulang na kulang ito,” the veteran legislator said in a radio interview.
“Nakasalalay ang malaking bagay sa vaccine roll-out.”
“Kapag nabawasan na ang pagkalat ng virus, saka lang maaaring manumbalik ang normalcy, kaya nakasalalay ang malaking bagay sa vaccine roll-out,” the seasoned lawmaker stressed.
The senator said that while the Department of Health is seeking for an additional P66 billion for COVID response, about P173 billion from Bayanihan 2 law have not been obligated or released yet with the expiration of the law on June 30 just a few days away.
From the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing, he said the P173 billion will be sourced from the unspent funds of several government agencies and tax collections.
Citing figures from the Department of Finance, Pangilinan said at least P173 billion or over a fourth of COVID-19 funds remain unspent.
“It’s a sin to have this much money and be sluggish in acting.”
“Government agencies need to shape up because with this big amount, they can do a lot to ease the difficulties of the Filipinos impacted by the pandemic. It’s a sin to have this much money and be sluggish in acting,” he said.
Pangilinan earlier led the call to convene the Senate Committee of the Whole which conducted two hearings on the government’s vaccination program.
He said efforts of the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force remain wanting in giving the jabs to Filipinos, which are seen as key to fully opening up the economy, making people go back to their jobs and giving opportunities to the jobless.
Pangilinan cited the case of Italy, one of the countries which imposed a strict lockdown, which vaccinated around 13.7 million of its citizens.
He said this resulted in an 80-percent drop in the spread of infection, 85-percent drop in the rate of hospitalization, and 95-percent drop in deaths.
“Ang laking bagay nito sa ating kamag-anakan at mahal sa buhay. Bakuna ang solusyon kaya ‘wag matakot dito,” Pangilinan said.
