Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No.6693

Introduced by Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Not since the Black Death decimated 60% of the afflicted populations in Europe
and Western Asia in the mid-14' century has a deadly contagion devastated the world
with inordinate loss of lives and crippling economic downturn than the current COVID-
19 pandemic.

Worldwide, as of 05 May 2020, there are 3,596,142 confirmed positive cases,
251,718 of whom had died and 1,170,779 recovered.

In the Philippines as of the same date, 9,684 have tested positive, of which 637
perished from COVID-19 at the time of death, not including the 337 who died but
posthumously found to be COVID- 19 positive, while 1,214 recovered. These data show
that the Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 positive cases and
deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.

Moreover, the Philippines registers the highest mortality of frontline doctors,
nurses and other health care workers in the region with 33 deaths from a total of 1,694
infected medical frontliners. The total number of COVID-19 positive health care workers
represents an alarming 17.49% of the total confirmed cases in the country.

To give lifelines to distraught peoples and distressed businesses, countries across
the globe are rushing their respective economic stimulus packages.

Among other countries, Malaysia has an emergency package of RM260 billion or
US$60.5 billion; Thailand, B1.9 trillion or US$58.3 billion; Singapore, S$60 billion or
US$42.3 billion; Indonesia, Rp 436.1 trillion or US$29.1 billion; South Korea, 85 trillion
won or US$69.3 billion; Japan ¥117 trillion or US$1.09 trillion; USA, US$2 trillion; Italy,
€450 billion or US$499.1 billion; Germany, €750 billion or US$831.9 billion; UK, £350
billion or US$437.1 billion; Spain, €200 billion or $221.8 billion; Australia, AUS$320
billion or US$205 billion; and Canada, C$107 billion or US$75.3 billion.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), emerging economies like
the Philippines would “need at least $2.5 trillion to weather the health crisis”.

The import and objectives of the P1 trillion continued emergency assistance and
economic stimulus package or US$ 19.727 billion proposed in this bill, although modest
in amount and scope compared to most other countries, are no less significant and
compelling.

The inevitable and imperative lockdown, or officially known as enhanced
community quarantine (ECQ), to contain the transmission of the virus and minimize the


number of afflicted persons, was imposed initially in the National Capital Region and
subsequently extended to the entirety of Luzon, and followed by local government units
(LGUs) in other parts of the country.

The first ECQ was from March 15 to April 15, 2020 in Metro Manila and from
March 17 to April 12, 2020 in Luzon, but President Rodrigo Duterte approved the
recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-
EID) to extend the Metro Manila and Luzon ECQs until April 30, 2020. On April 24,
President Duterte announced that the ECQ was to extend until May 15, 2020 for Metro
Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon (except Aurora) as well as other areas in Luzon
and some parts of the country that are considered high-risk for COVID-19 like
Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Catanduanes, Davao del Norte, Davao City, Oriental
Mindoro, Antique, Iloilo, Cebu, Cebu City, and Baguio City.

The rest of the country is presently covered by general community quarantine
(GCQ), which nonetheless is still community quarantine.

The lockdowns resulted to widespread immobilization of people and scaling down
or even cessation of business operations which caused loss of wages for both formal and
informal workers as well as middle-income employees. Vulnerable households have been
pushed to the brink. The self-employed, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),
and bigger corporations all suffered substantial income losses.

Meanwhile, the viral menace continues to rampage, so much so that in the past
seven days or from 29 April to 05 May, the number of new cases reached 1,766 or
18.23% of the total positive cases. In other words, positive cases in the past week alone
represents almost one-fifth of the total number of infected patients in the Philippines.
Consequently, there is a continuing pressure on the current national budget.

The government has come to the rescue of affected citizens through social
‘amelioration and wage subsidies, supplemented by other emergency benefits, by using
the pertinent appropriations in the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts (GAAs).

However, funding sources in the GAA may not be enough even as world health
authorities have cautioned countries from prematurely lifting lockdown barriers for fear
of a resurgence of the disease.

Considering that R.A. No. 11469 or the “Bayanihan Act” did not provide for any
new appropriations for the COVID-19 response other than using the existing available
appropriations in the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Acts (GAAS), there is need
to immediately appropriate fresh funds for the government to continue granting social
amelioration, wage subsidies and other emergency benefits to the affected sectors
during the pandemic as well as additional requirements of the Department of Health to
arrest the pandemic.

In other words, over and above what the Executive could appropriately use as
originally allocated and legitimately generate from realignment of budgetary allocations
in the 2019 and 2020 GAAs, the continuation of funding for emergency assistance is
imperative.

The 2019 and 2020 GAAs cannot be milked dry in defiance of the Supreme Court
ruling in Araullo vs. Aquino (G.R. No. 209287, July 1, 2014) which outlaws the
discontinuance, impounding and reallocation of specifically budgeted programs and
projects in order to collate forced savings and to transfer the generated funds to other


expenditure outlays in violation of Section 25 (5) of Article VI of the Constitution.
Paraphrasing the decision in Araullo, a noble purpose cannot be achieved by
circumventing the fundamental law.

Moreover, the COVID-19 response cannot be pursued by unduly sacrificing
growth like infrastructure development and other essential programs budgeted in the
GAA.

Verily, funding in this bill covers two phases: first, while the pandemic persists
at alarming levels, emergency assistance should be continued, allocated, and granted;
and second, post COVID-19 funding to re-energize the economy which could start
during the tall-end of the pandemic, if not possibly earlier.

In order to continue the various emergency assistance to the marginalized sectors
as well as to the adversely affected members of the middle class, and to bail out
businesses which are reeling from the onslaught of the evolving severest recession since
the Great Depression, the enactment of this bill for continued emergency response and
economic stimulus package is of critical immediacy.

After repeated consultations with and submissions from concerned Executive
Departments like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH),
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of
Tourism (DOT), and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), among others,
the following benefits, beneficiaries, and implementing agencies are established:

Type of Assistance/Beneficiaries Amount Implementing
Agencies
Sustainable Livelihood Program —|  P164,000,000,000 | Department of Social
Livelihood Assistance Grants (SLP-LAG) Welfare and
for 20% of the 17,900,000 targeted Development (DSWD)

beneficiaries for the Social Amelioration
Program, _P54,000,000,000; and
additional funding for the Social
Amelioration Program for marginalized
households for three (3) months,

P110,000,000,000, totaling

P'164,000,000,000.

Wage subsidy and livelihood financial 82,259,767,000 | Department of Labor
assistance to disadvantaged and and Employment
displaced workers in the formal and (DOLE)

informal sectors broken down as
follows: (a) Enhanced —Tulong
Panghanapbuhay sa ‘Ating
Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers
(TUPAD) for three (3) months,
P13,259,767,000;  (b)  COVID
‘Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP)
for three (3) months, P24,000,000,000;
(©) Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong Program
(CAMP-AKAP) for displaced Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs) who were (i)



repatriated even as repatriation is
continuing; (ii) those who remained in
their host countries under no-work-no-
Pay policy; (iii) those who were unable
to go back to their foreign employment
because of the COVID-19 travel
restrictions; and (iv) those who
returned to the Philippines on their own,
P5,000,000,000; and (d) DOLE's
Barangay Emergency Employment
Program (BEEP), P40,000,000,000,
totaling to P82,259,767,000.

COVID-19 Emergency Response of the
Department of Health for the following:
(a) prompt testing by public and
designated private institutions of PUIs
and PUMs, P12,013,000,000; (b)
medical expenses of public and private
health workers in case of exposure to
COVID-19 or any related injury or
disease during the pandemic,
P13,059,000,000; (c) compensation of
public and private health workers who
may contract severe COVID-19 infection
or may die due to COVID-19 while in the
line of duty, P2,061,000,000; (d)
capital expenditures related to COVID-
19 response, P5,026,000,000; (e)
procurement of COVID-19 response
related commodities such as Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) and
treatment drugs, P61,071,000,000; (f)
subsidy for operational expenses of
hospitals, P2,082,000,000; (g) the
emergency hiring of human resources
for healthcare, P10,063,000,000; (h)
compensation for private facilities used
for the purpose of combating COVID-19
— P512,000,000 and (i) strengthening
of epidemiology and surveillance
response including the hiring of contact
tracers, P406,000,000, totaling to
P110,512,000,000.

P110,512,000,000

Department of Health
(DOH)

Test kits production of the Department
of Science and Technology (DOST) and
the University of the Philippines-
National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH),
55,000,000.

P55,000,000

Department Of
Science and
Technology (DOST)

and University of the
Philippines-National
Institutes of Health
(UP-NIH)



The amount of P100,000,000,000 is P100,000,000,000 | Department of Trade

appropriated for implementation by the and Industry (DTI).

DTI, broken down as follows: (a) With respect to

P80,000,000,000 for wage subsidy, availment of MSMEs in

financial assistance and/interest-free the transportation and

loans to middle income affected tourism sectors, the

employees of MSMEs in the trade, Secretary of DTI shall

manufacturing, transportation, coordinate with the

agriculture and tourism _ sectors, respective Secretaries

including displaced private school of the Department of

teachers; (b) P10,000,000,000 for soft ‘Transportation

loans to manufacturing enterprises; and (DOTr) and the

(c) P10,000,000,000 for export-oriented Department of

enterprises. Tourism (DOT). The
Social Security System
(SSS) shall assist in
the payment to
beneficiaries.
Interest-free loans

t shall be — coursed

through the Landbank
of the Philippines.

“Ahon Lahat, Pagkain Sapat Kontra sa P50,000,000,000 | Department of

COVID-19" (ALPAS) Program Agriculture (DA)

amounting to P31,000,000,000 and

DA's Cash-for-Work Program (C4W)

amounting to P15,000,000,000 or a

total of P46,000,000,000, which is

rounded off to P50,000,000,000.

Phase II of the -"The PaSSOver: ARBold P2,200,000,000 | Department: of

Move for Deliverance of our Farmers Agrarian Reform

from the COVID-19 Pandemic” covering (DAR)

225,511 agrarian reform beneficiaries,

P597,755,500; and the “Gulay, Buhay

sa Sambayanan” covering 15,000

hectares of CARP-awarded lands or

1,000 hectares per region,

P1,567,605,000, rounded off to

P2,200,000,000.

Support for the Tourism Recovery P71,617,000,000 | Department of

Program broken down as follows: (a) Tourism (DOT)

Concessional Working Capital Loan
(WCL) for the tourism industry,
P60,067,000,000;  (b) Tourism
Resiliency Fund, P10,000,000,000; (c)
Market and Product Development
Support Program, P500,000,000; (d)
Marketing and Promotions Program,
P500,000,000; (e) Capacity Building for
Industry Stakeholders, P500,000,000;
and (f) Institutional Support Program,



P50,000,000, totaling P71,617,000,000.
This total amount is net of
P3,134,840,000 for wage subsidy to
MSMEs-affected workers in the tourism
sector to be implemented by the DTI.

For the transportation industry: (a)
aviation sector, P59,430,000,000,
broken down as follows: (1) access to
emergency lines of credit (soft loans)
for operational expenses for a
minimum of six (6) — months,
P15,300,000,000; and (2) long-term
credit for the aviation recovery with
liberal rates of interest,
P38,250,000,000; (3) Relief on current
working credit lines after banks have
cut-off the existing credit lines,
P6,375,000,000; (b) concessional loan
facility for the maritime sector,
P20,500,000,000; (c) concessional loan
facility for the road — sector,
P10,000,000,000; (d) funding for the
continuous provision of free shuttle
service to health workers for three (3)
months, P135,000,000; and (e) subsidy
for the continuous operation of the
quarantine vessels and Eva Macapagal
Terminal to house COVID-19 affected
patients for three (3) months,
P241,233,000, totaling to
P90,306,233,000.

P90,306,233,000

Department of Trans-
portation (DOTr) and
the Landbank of the
Philippines and the
Development Bank of
the Philippines

P200,000,000,000 for the construction
of health facilities related to the COVID-
19 response like new public hospitals,
quarantine centers and allied
structures, including the expansion of
regional hospitals to increase the
nationwide hospital bed capacity and
modernize health facilities. Likewise, to
implement — infra-structure projects
whose budgeted capital outlays in the
2020 General Appropriations Act were
discontinued and reallocated/realigned
to COVID-19 response projects and
programs. This would underscore the
verity that infrastructure development is
the engine of growth and provides
remunerative work both in the urban
centers and the countryside.

P200,000,000,000

Department of Public
Works and Highways
(DPWH)



P100,000,000,000 for grant of subsidy P100,000,000,000 | Department of the
or financial assistance to local Interior and Local
government units (LGUs) nationwide to Government (DILG)
enable LGUs to respond more
effectively and immediately to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and to
supplement the assistance from the
National Government.

Technical Education and Skills P4,000,000,000 | Technical Education
Development Authority (TESDA) and Skills
Programs to  upskill — workers, Development
P4,000,000,000 Authority (TESDA)
Educational assistance to the children or P50,000,000 | Commission on Higher
next-of-kin of healthcare frontliners Education (CHED)

who died of COVID-19 to be managed
by the Commission on Higher Education
(CHED) in the amount of P50,000,000.

A contingent fund in the amount of P 25,000,000,000 | Office of the President
P25,000,000,000 is appropriated to
cover any funding deficiency herein,
resolve the need for fund
augmentation, and address unserved
beneficiaries.

TOTAL P1,000,000,000,000

The funding sources for this bill include the following, among others:

(1) Relief assistance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) pursuant to Sec.
89 of the BSP Act, as well as other innovative fiscal measures the BSP can undertake
which is not expressly prohibited by law in order to augment the cash position of the
government considering that the country’s foreign exchange reserves are at its highest
at $89.0-B as of end-March 2020;

(2) Availment of grants and concessional loans from the World Bank (WB) and
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which have been previously committed by the two
multilateral funding institutions;

(3) Floatation of Philippine bonds in the international and domestic markets;

(4) Sale and privatization of disposable government assets like military golf
courses and idle lands of the State Universities (SUCs), among others;

(5) Extension of tax amnesty programs; and
(6) Domestic borrowings by the Bureau of the Treasury.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

a Z _ a


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 6693

Introduced by: Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

AN ACT APPROPRIATING THE AMOUNT OF ONE TRILLION PESOS
(P1,000,000,000,000) FOR THE CONTINUED EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE AND
ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:
SECTION 1. Short Tile. — This Act shall be known as the “COVID-19 Response

SECTION 2. One Trillion Peso Appropriation. — The total amount of One
Trillion Pesos (P1,000,000,000,000) is hereby appropriated as follows:

(A) _ The amount of One Hundred Sixty-Four Billion Pesos (P164,000,000,000)
is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD), broken as follows:

(2) _ Fifty-Four Billion Pesos (P54,000,000,000) for DSWD's “Sustainable
Livelihood Program ~ Livelihood Assistance Grants” (SLP-LAG) for 20% of the
17,900,000 targeted beneficiaries for the Social Amelioration Program; and

(b) One Hundred Ten Billion Pesos (P110,000,000,000) additional
funding for the Social Amelioration Program for marginalized households for three
(3) months.

(B) The amount of Eighty-Two Billion Two Hundred Fifty-Nine Million Seven
Hundred Sixty-Seven Thousand Pesos (P82,259,767,000) is appropriated for
implementation by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for wage subsidy
and livelihood financial assistance to disadvantaged and displaced workers in the formal
and informal sectors, broken down as follows:

(2) Thirteen Billion Two Hundred Fifty-Nine Million Seven Hundred
Sixty-Seven Thousand Pesos (P13,259,767,000) for the Enhanced Tulong
Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) for three
(3) months;

(b) Twenty-Four Billion Pesos (P24,000,000,000) for COVID Adjustment
Measures Program (CAMP) for three (3) months;

(©) __ Five Billion Pesos (P5,000,000,000) for Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong
Program (CAMP-AKAP) for displaced Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who were
(i) repatriated even as repatriation is continuing; (ii) those who remained in their
host countries under no-work-no-pay policy; (ii) those who were unable to go



back to their foreign employment because of the COVID-19 travel restrictions;
and (iv) those who returned to the Philippines on their own; and

(d) Forty Billion Pesos (P40,000,000,000) for DOLE’s Barangay
Emergency Employment Program (BEEP).

(C) The amount of One Hundred Ten Billion Five Hundred Twelve Million Pesos
(P110,512,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Health
(DOH), for its COVID-19 Emergency Response, broken down as follows:

(a) Twelve Billion Thirteen Million Pesos (P12,013,000,000) for prompt
testing by public and designated private institutions of PUIs and PUMs;

(b) Thirteen Billion Fifty-Nine Million Pesos (P13,059,000,000) for medical
expenses of public and private health workers in case of exposure to COVID-19
or any related injury or disease during the pandemic;

(c) Two Billion Sixty-One Million Pesos (P2,061,000,000) for compensation
of public and private health workers who may contract severe COVID-19 infection
or may die due to COVID-19 while in the line of duty;

(d) Five Billion Twenty-Six Million Pesos (P5,026,000,000) for capital
expenditures related to COVID-19 response;

(e) Sixty-One Billion Seventy-One Million Pesos (P61,071,000,000) for
procurement of COVID-19 response related commodities such as Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) and treatment drugs;

(f) Two Billion Eighty-Two Million Pesos (P2,082,000,000) as subsidy for
operational expenses of hospitals;

(g) Ten Billion Sixty-Three Million Pesos (P10,063,000,000) for the
emergency hiring of human resources for healthcare;

(h) Five Hundred Twelve Million Pesos (P512,000,000) as compensation
for private facilities used for the purpose of combating COVID-19; and

(i) Four Hundred Six Million Pesos (P406,000,000) for the strengthening of
epidemiology and surveillance response including the hiring of contact tracers.

(D) The amount of Fifty-Five Million Pesos (P55,000,000) is appropriated for
implementation by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the
University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH), for the production
of test kits and other allied equipment.

(E) The amount of One Hundred Billion Pesos (P100,000,000,000) is
appropriated for implementation by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), broken
down as follows:

(a) Eighty Billion Pesos (P80,000,000,000) for wage subsidy, financial
assistance and/or interest-free loans to middle income affected employees of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the trade, manufacturing,
transportation, tourism, and agriculture sectors, including displaced private school
teachers;


(b) Ten Billion (P10,000,000,000) for soft loans to manufacturing
enterprises; and

(c) Ten Billion (P10,000,000,000) soft loans for export-oriented
enterprises.

With respect to availment of affected employees of MSMEs in the transportation
and tourism sectors, the Secretary of DTI shall coordinate with the respective Secretaries
of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The Social Security System (SSS) shall assist DTI in the payment to affected
employees under the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program for MSMEs.

Interest-free loans to MSMEs and the concessional loans to business enterprises
authorized herein shall be processed and released by the Landbank of the Philippines
(LBP).

(F) | The amount of Fifty Billion Pesos (P50,000,000,000) is appropriated for
implementation by the Department of Agriculture (DA), broken down as follows:

(a) Financial assistance under the “Ahon Lahat, Pagkain Sapat Kontra
sa COVID-19” (ALPAS) Program amounting to P31,000,000,000;

(b)  Cash-for-Work Program (C4W) amounting to P15,000,000,000.

(G) The amount of Two Billion Two Hundred Million Pesos (P2,200,000,000) is
appropriated for implementation by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), broken
down as follows:

(a) Five Hundred Ninety-Seven Million Seven Hundred Fifty-Five
Thousand Five Hundred (P597,755,500) as funding for Phase II of the “The
PaSSOver: ARBold Move for Deliverance of our Farmers from the COVID-19
Pandemic” covering 225,511 agrarian reform beneficiaries; and

(b) One Billion Five Hundred Sixty-Seven Million Six Hundred Five
Thousand (P1,567,605,000) as funding for the “Gulay, Buhay sa Sambayanan”
covering 15,000 hectares of CARP-awarded lands or 1,000 hectares per region.
(H) The amount of Seventy-One Billion Six Hundred Seventeen Million Pesos
(P71,617,000,000) is appropriated for implementation by the Department of Tourism
(DOT) for its Support for the Tourism Recovery Program. This total amount is net of
P3,134,840,000 for wage subsidy to MSMEs-affected workers in the tourism sector to be
implemented by the DTI. The total amount is broken down as follows:

(a) Sixty Billion Sixty-Seven Million Pesos (P60,067,000,000) as
concessional Working Capital Loan (WCL) for the tourism industry;

(b) Ten Billion Pesos (P10,000,000,000) for the Tourism Resiliency Fund;

(c) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for the Market and Product
Development Support Program;

(d) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for the Marketing and

10


Promotions Program;

(e) Five Hundred Million Pesos (P500,000,000) for Capacity Building for
Industry Stakeholders; and

(f) Fifty Million Pesos (50,000,000) for Institutional Support Program.

(I) The amount of Ninety Billion Three Hundred Six Million Two Hundred
Thirty-Three Thousand Pesos (P90,306,233,000) is appropriated for implementation by
the Department of Transportation (DOTr), broken down as follows:

(a) _ Fifty-Nine_ Billion Four Hundred Thirty Million Pesos
(P59,430,000,000) as support for the aviation sector, further broken down as
follows:

(1) Fifteen Billion Three Hundred Million Pesos (P15,300,000,000) for
access to emergency lines of credit (soft loans) for operational expenses for
a minimum of six (6) months;

(2) Thirty-Eight Billion Two Hundred Fifty Million Pesos
(P38,250,000,000) for long-term credit for the aviation recovery with liberal
rates of interest; and

(3) Six Billion Three Hundred Seventy-Five Million Pesos
(P6,375,000,000) for relief on current working credit lines after banks have
cut-off the existing credit lines.

(b) Twenty Billion Five Hundred Million Pesos (P20,500,000,000) as
concessional loan facility for the maritime sector;

(c) Ten Billion Pesos (P10,000,000,000) as concessional loan facility for the
road sector;

(d) One Hundred Thirty-Five Million (P135,000,000) as funding for the
continuous provision of free shuttle service to health workers for three (3)
months; and

(e) Two Hundred Forty-One Million Two Hundred  Thirty-
Three Thousand Pesos (P241,233,000) as subsidy for the continuous operation
of the quarantine vessels and Eva Macapagal Terminal to house COVID-19
affected patients for three (3) months.

(3) The amount of Two Hundred Billion Pesos (P200,000,000,000) is
appropriated for implementation by the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH) for the construction of health facilities related to the COVID-19 response like
new public hospitals, quarantine centers and allied structures, including the expansion
of regional hospitals to increase the nationwide hospital bed capacity and modernize
health facilities. Likewise, to implement infrastructure projects whose budgeted capital
outlays in the 2020 General Appropriations Act were discontinued and
reallocated/realigned to COVID-19 response projects and programs. This would
underscore the verity that infrastructure development is the engine of growth and
provides remunerative work both in the urban centers and the countryside.

(K) The amount of One Hundred Billion Pesos (P100,000,000,000) is

it


appropriated for implementation by the Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG) for grant of subsidy or financial assistance to local government units
(LGUs) nationwide to enable LGUs to respond more effectively and immediately to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and to supplement the assistance from the National Government.

(L) | The amount of Four Billion Pesos (P4,000,000,000) is appropriated for
implementation by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA)
programs to upskill workers.

(M) The amount of Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000) is appropriated for
management by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the educational
assistance to the children and/or next-of-kin of healthcare frontliners who died of COVID-
19 under a “Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Children and/or Next-of-Kin of Healthcare
Frontliners Who Died of COVID-19”.

(N) The amount of Twenty-Five Billion Pesos (P25,000,000,000) is
appropriated for implementation by the Office of the President (OP) as a contingent fund
to cover any funding deficiency herein, resolve the need for fund augmentation, and
address unserved beneficiaries.

SECTION 3. Implementing Agencies. — The implementing agencies designated
in this Act shall within fifteen (15) days from the effectivity of this Act issue necessary
guidelines, including the schedules of availment as well as the screening of beneficiaries
and the processing of the grant or benefits.

SECTION 4. Loans to MSMEs. - The credit accommodation to the MSMEs as
well as those who are self-employed shall be interest-free, payable within three (3) years
and shall not require any collateral if the loan does not exceed three (3) million pesos.

SECTION 5. Loans Extended to Businesses. - The loans extended to
corporations or enterprises in the transportation, tourism, manufacturing, export-
oriented and agricultural sectors, which are not MSMEs, shall be concessional and
payable within three (3) to six (6) years.

SECTION 6. Loan Conditionalities. — The loans granted to MSMEs and business
enterprises pursuant to this Act shall have the following conditionalities: (a) proceeds of
the loan shall be used to rehabilitate the business and for operational purposes; (b) the
borrower shall maintain the number of its employee workforce; and (c) any patent or
culpable violation of the terms and conditions of the loan shall lead to the imposition of
regular or higher interest rates, as the case may be, or shall make the loan due and
demandable.

SECTION 7. Remittance of Payments to the Bureau of the Treasury. — All
collections or payments for the principal and interest of the loans granted under this Act
shall be remitted immediately to the Bureau of the Treasury.

SECTION 8. Non-Exclusivity. — This Act shall not preclude national agencies,
government financial institutions, Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations
(GOCCs), local government units (LGUs), and the private sector from adopting enabling
measures not inconsistent with this Act.

SECTION 9. Retroactivity. — This Act shall be retroactive in so far as benefits or

wage subsidies are concerned for implementation by the DSWD, DOLE, DOH, and DTI
or as may be implied or provided for herein.

122


SECTION 10. Repealing Clause. — All provisions of existing laws, orders, rules
and regulations or parts thereof which are in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions
of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SECTION 11. Separability Clause. — If for any reason or reasons, any part or

provision of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other parts or
provisions hereof which are not affected thereby, shall remain to be in full force and
effect.

SECTION 12. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect immediately upon its
publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation
in the Philippines.

Approved,

13