Quimbo: Passage of P1.3-T stimulus fund needed for effective COVID-19 response

President Rodrigo Duterte should support the passage of the P1.3 trillion stimulus package dubbed as the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill so the country could have an effective COVID-19 response, House Assistant Minority Leader Stella Quimbo of Marikina said.

Quimbo, one of the authors of the ARISE bill and an award-winning economist, issued the appeal after Duterte did not call for the passage of he ARISE bill during his fifth State of the Nation Address two days ago.

“Ano kaya ang plano ng Executive sa usaping economic recovery? If the plan is to propose the ARISE interventions as separate budget items in the 2021 General Appropriations Act (national budget), this will not be an effective economic stimulus package,” Quimbo pointed out.

“Pinag-aralan, pinagtulungan ng maraming mambabatas at sektor ang pagpasa ng ARISE bill sa Kongreso. Yet, ARISE was the elephant in the room of the SONA,” Quimbo added.

Quimbo noted that while the President pushed for ARISE interventions such as helping micro and small businesses, providing interest free loans and training, regulatory relief and ease of doing business, taking care of the OFWs who lost their jobs, support for agri-business and domestic tourism, ensuring that telcos deliver better services and supporting infrastructure to create jobs, the fact remains that the ARISE bill was not on the list of priority legislation.

“Kung maging piecemeal ang approach at parang regular budget items lang ang treatment ng proposed interventions, how would we know which of these are counted towards the incremental effort of responding to COVID-19? Baka naman ‘yung akala natin na stimulus, matagal na palang plano yun kahit wala pang COVID,” Quimbo said.

Without enacting the ARISE bill, Quimbo also said that Congress will not be able to monitor the progress of government interventions amid the battle against COVID-19.

“Pag hiwalay ang mga hakbang, hiwalay ang pagpapatupad, at hiwalay din ang pag-report sa Kongreso….pag sinabi, halimbawa, ng DTI na “Mr. Speaker, we have managed to lend 1 B pesos to MSMEs”, how does Congress know if this was well-targeted to beneficiaries, considering all other interventions?,” Quimbo said.

“We cannot afford to fail. Time is of the essence. Nahuhuli na tayo sa Asean. Congress has done the heavy lifting, so I urge the Executive to engage us and come to the table with a coherent COVID-19 recovery strategy in mind,” Quimbo added. -MDM, GMA News