MANILA – The Senate’s contingent in the bicameral conference for Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 has rejected the House of Representatives’ bid to allocate P10 billion for additional comfort rooms and streets.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that both chambers of Congress have a lengthy discussion on the allotted budget as the senators wanted it to be put on to help the tourist workers affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Ang ibig ng mga kongresista ay ilagay ito sa pagpapatayo ng kubeta at kalsada habang ang Senado naman ay ipinaglaban natin ‘yung position ng DOT na ito ay tulong sa pamamagitan ng soft loans para doon sa mga maliliit na kumpanya na nagsara o nahirapan sa COVID-19 pandemic,” Drilon told DZMM.
“Kasama ang debate sa aming trabaho. At the end of the day, nagkasundo kami kung paano gagastusin ang pera para sa turismo. Hindi po kubeta at kalsada ang gagawin kung hindi ibibigay sa mga manggagawa na natanggal at nawalan ng trabaho at para doon sa mga kumpanya sa tourism industry,” he added.
Drilon reiterated that the P10 billion assistance for the tourism industry remained intact—P6 billion is earmarked as loanable funds for small tourism players, P3 billion will be used to assist the displaced workers, and P1 billion will go to infrastructure.
The reconciled version of the P165.5 billion Bayanihan 2 was ratified by the Senate on Thursday. The House of Representatives is expected to ratify it on Monday before being sent for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature./PN
