Prioritize aid for daily wage earners, not aviation industry –senators

Several senators on Tuesday said the delivery of cash assistance to daily wage earners affected by the COVID-19 lockdown should be prioritized over a bogged down aviation sector that requested an estimated P8.6 billion monthly bailout amid the pandemic.

"You always have to help first the weakest members of society. Although businesses are important because [they] provide jobs, the weakest link[s] are really the daily wage earners. And a lot of them are the ones that are affected by the shutdown," Senator Grace Poe said in a virtual interview.

Poe, the chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said the government had made no commitments with the airlines.

"Ang sinasabi natin baka naman 'yung ibang fees na ibinabayad ng airlines ay puwedeng mabigyan ng discount lalo na 'yung sa mga CAAP at kung anu-ano pang ibinabayad sa gobyerno. Pero para bigyan sila ng bailout sa ngayon, wala pang pag-uusap na nangyayari. Hindi ko alam kung ano ang kakayanin ng gobyerno," she said.

During a Senate hearing on Monday, the Air Carriers Association of the Philippines (ACAP)—comprised of Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Philippines AirAsia—said it had a monthly requirement of P8.6 billion to keep the industry afloat amid the pandemic.

ACAP Vice Chairman Roberto Lim said this amount included the P1.3 billion monthly wage subsidy to affected aviation workers, P500 million navigational fees and charges paid by carriers, and a P6.8 billion working capital.

Senator Francis Tolentino also said prioritization was important due to the finite budget that the government had to work with amid the health crisis.

"Given the very limited resources of the government, we should prioritize the basic needs of the people which includes agriculture and even education (scholarships for students and subsidies for teachers). And even those from the informal labor sector," Tolentino in a separate message.

Senator Panfilo Lacson shared the same view.

"I would rather prioritize the ‘hand-to-mouths’ who are forced to lose their income, many of whom are without savings but who need to feed their families," Lacson said.

"Big business like airline companies should belong to the second or third level of priority and much should depend on the availability of resources," he added.

Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, said the proposed bailout must be "taken in conjunction with other industries and the overall stimulus."

"We want as much as possible to help people keep their jobs," he said.

In previous months, several airlines in and out of the country had resorted to laying off some of their employees as their industry bled from cancelations and restricted flights due to COVID-19.

According to President Rodrigo Duterte's 7th Report to Congress on Monday, 14.2 million out of the target 18 million low-income families had received the first tranche of the P5,000 to P8,000 emergency subsidy from the government.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government said 1,265 or 91% of the total number of local government units were able to beat the May 10 deadline for the distribution of assistance.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte approved five million additional beneficiaries for the cash aid. — DVM, GMA News