DBM fund releases for COVID-19 efforts exceed P500B

The total amount released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to agencies for their COVID-19 response efforts since March has already breached P500 billion due to additional releases under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or Bayanihan 2.

The DBM’s COVID-19-related releases amounted to P500.7 billion as of Dec. 28, owing to a slight increase in Bayanihan 2 releases to P107.9 billion from P106.5 billion as of Dec. 19, when the law expired.

The remainder of the P140 billion to P165.5 billion in funds set aside under the Bayanihan 2 Law will be released after President Duterte signs the Congress-approved extension of fund validity until next year.

Under the earlier Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Bayanihan 1 Law, the DBM released P386.1 billion from March to June, including funds from items in the P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget which were reallocated to COVID-19 response.

DBM data showed that a net of P50.9 billion had been slashed from various departments’ regular budgets as of end-November and realloca­ted into COVID-19-related programs, activities and projects.

Between June and September when Bayanihan 1 lapsed and before Bayanihan 2 took effect, the DBM also released P6.6 billion to agencies to augment their COVID-19 response budgets.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development received the biggest chunk of releases from March up to present, totaling P217.4 billion, as it disbursed the dole outs given away to poor households and vulnerable sectors during the enhanced community quarantine from mid-March to May, which put 75 percent of the economy to a halt and shed millions of jobs due to temporary closure of thousands of businesses.

The funds released to fight the health and socioeconomic ills inflicted by COVID-19 also included P74.1 billion to the Department of Health; P28.9 billion to the Department of Labor and Employmen; and P101 billion to the Department of Finance.

The other agencies which received COVID-19-related funding were the Department of Agriculture, P34.7 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P4.3 billion; the Department of National Defense, P2.9 billion; the Department of Education, P15.2 billion; the Commission on Higher Education, P3.3 billion; the Department of Foreign Affairs, P825.1 million; the Department of Trade and Industry, P1.3 billion; the Department of Science and Technology, P53.2 million; the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, P50.5 million; the Department of Public Works and Highways, P5.5 billion; the Department of Transportation, P10.3 billion; state universities and colleges, specifically the University of the Philippines and the Philippine General Hospital, P415 million; and the Philippine Sports Commission, P180 million.