MANILA, Philippines — Local government units (LGUs) have been given until Oct. 31 to avail of their P1.5-billion fund under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Law, which the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said cannot be given away as cash dole-outs amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado said in Local Budget Circular No. 128 dated Sept. 17 that the October deadline for LGUs to request and submit documentary requirements for availing of the money injected by Republic Act (RA) No. 11494 or “Bayanihan 2” into the local government support fund (LGSF) will allow the DBM to release funds before the law lapses on Dec. 19, 2020.
Avisado said the LGSF-COVID-19 financial assistance to LGUs can be spent to procure personal protective equipment (PPE); testing equipment, kits, and reagents; medicines and vitamins; hospital equipment and supplies; and various goods for disinfecting and misting.
The fund can also be used to cover food, transportation (including fuel), and accommodation expenses of medical and LGU personnel in the frontline of the fight against COVID-19, as well as food assistance and relief goods for vulnerable families.
LGUs can likewise spend the fund to buy or repair ambulances and other vehicles used for emergency medical response; build, repair or rent buildings or spaces for COVID-19 patients and quarantine facilities; operate testing laboratories; buy or rent temporary shelters for the homeless; and train personnel for COVID-19 testing.
However, the DBM said LGUs cannot give away any form of cash or financial assistance using this fund.
Also, personnel services, administrative and travel expenses, conference and seminar fees, purchases of appliances, furniture, and fixtures, as well as purchase, maintenance, and repair of vehicles that were not related to COVID-19 response cannot be covered by the fresh LGU fund.
At the height of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed in Luzon and other parts of the country with high COVID-19 cases, the DBM already released P6.2 billion to the 82 provinces equivalent to a one-half month of their internal revenue allotment, on top of a bigger P30.8 billion to 146 cities and 1,488 municipalities equivalent to one-month IRA.
These so-called Bayanihan grants to LGUs were supposed to be used to buy PPEs, testing kits, medicines and vitamins, hospital equipment and supplies, food assistance, and relief goods, among other COVID-19-related expenses.
However, the DBM said in July that “based on the initial reports on fund utilization and status of implementation of programs, activities, and projects submitted by the recipient LGUs to the DBM, it has been noted that there is a relatively low utilization rate of the allocations of the LGUs from the Bayanihan grant.”
These grants were expected to augment LGU funds as they cannot generate as much local revenues amid the pandemic.
The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) had projected LGUs could only collect P171.9 billion in revenues this year out of the P307.1-billion goal earlier set by the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (DOF-BLGF).