Senate blocked House bid to allot P10B for 'kubeta, kalsada' —Drilon

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Friday said the Senate's contingent in the bicameral conference for Bayanihan 2 blocked the House of Representatives' bid to allocate P10 billion for additional comfort rooms and streets.

"Ito ang mahabang diskusyon na nangyari dahil ang ibig ng mga kongresista ay ilagay ito sa pagpapatayo ng kubeta at kalsada habang ang Senado naman ay ipinaglaban natin 'yung position ng DOT na ito ay tulong sa pamamagitan ng soft loans para doon sa mga maliliit na kumpanya na nagsara o nahirapan sa COVID-19 pandemic," Drilon said in a radio interview.

"Kasama ang debate sa aming trabaho. At the end of the day, nagkasundo kami kung paano gagastusin ang pera para sa turismo. Hindi po kubeta at kalsada ang gagawin kung hindi ibibigay sa mga manggagawa na natanggal at nawalan ng trabaho at para doon sa mga kumpanya sa tourism industry," he added.

Drilon reiterated that the P10 billion assistance for the tourism industry remained intact. Of the amount, P6 billion is earmarked as loanable funds for small tourism players, P3 billion will be used to assist the displaced workers, and P1 billion will go to infrastructure.

"Mayroon pong P1 billion para sa kubeta at kalsada," he said.

The reconciled version of the P165.5 billion Bayanihan 2 bill, or the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, was ratified by the Senate on Thursday. The House is expected to ratify it on Monday.

Pia defends House

During Thursday's bicameral meeting, Senator Pia Cayetano came into the defense of House members amid "insinuations" that congressmen have ill motives for pushing for tourism infrastructure.

"I would like to point out the insinuation that no one in the Senate pushed for anything for personal gain makes it appear that our counterparts in the House did. And you all know that the Speaker is my brother," she told fellow senators, referring to Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

"If you don't like it, okay lang 'yun pero let's not naman insinuate na may masamang intention 'yung counterparts natin [sa House]," added Cayetano, herself a former House member.

Senator Sonny Angara, chair of the finance committee in the Senate, tried to cool down the situation and acknowledged the contributions of the House.

"I confirm that the House made very many good interventions... and you know, the Speaker who is the brother of our colleague, if not for his intervention, we may not have broken the deadlock for the tourism. They graciously agreed despite their reservations to lodge the money in the [Small Business] Corporation," he said.

"I was also a member of the House so I don't think we can blame our colleagues from the other house for looking after their districts. Kasi 'yun ang bottomline nila, unlike us we have this larger constituency," he added.

Funding for credit facilities

The Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) has earlier appealed to the bicam to pour in funding for credit facilities instead of infrastructure.

"While we acknowledge the long-term wisdom of the House version of allocating the amount to infrastructure projects under the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) to help the industry’s recovery, we believe that the priority in this critical period is an emergency rescue package for tourism businesses like ours," it said in a statement.

"We are drowning in a stormy sea and we need a lifeline NOW. We cannot wait for a new boat to be built to rescue us," it added.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, an estimated 4.8 million formal and informal tourism industry workers have been affected, according to the TCP. —KBK, GMA News