Makabayan bloc: Bayanihan 2 favors Duterte's foreign, crony interests

The Makabayan bloc on Saturday claimed the newly-signed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, which provides a COVID-19 relief package worth P165.5 billion, only favors President Rodrigo Duterte's foreign and crony interests.

"We reject the Bayanihan 2 law as it will not only further perpetuate the bad and calamitous pre-Covid19 pandemic economic policies of the administration, but will also give Pres. Duterte more unconstitutional powers that he can use for the benefit of his favored foreign and local investors and to trample on the rights of marginalized sectors," the progressive solons said in a statement.

They argued that the absence of a free mass testing program, especially for health workers, other frontliners, and the labor force, was one of the administration's failures and was a "main obstacle" to economic recovery.

"Unfortunately, funding for expansion of testing is not prioritized in Bayanihan 2, relegated to the standby fund which may be used only if and when additional funds become available. Furthermore, the law barely addresses the dire need to expand and upgrade health care capacity for both COVID and non-COVID patients, relying instead on reallocation of bed capacity for COVID patients during surges in infection," Makabayan said.

The lawmakers added that the economic stimulus and recovery package remains "fatally tied" to the "neoliberal framework of relying on foreign investment and importation to grow the economy."

The bloc also slammed Duterte's alleged exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for emergency powers beyond the limitations set by the Constitution.

They cited Article VI, Section 23(2) of the Constitution stating that the special powers granted by Congress to the President to deal with a national emergency may only be exercised for a limited period ("Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such powers shall cease upon the next adjournment thereof.")

Bayanihan 2 will be effective until the adjournment of Congress on December 19, 2020, but certain provisions of the Act gives the President certain powers even until the end of his term.

These include the exemption of all mergers and acquisitions worth less than P50 billion from the requirement of compulsory notification to the Philippine Competition Commission for a period of two years, as well as their exemption from motu propio review by the PCC for a period of one-year suspension (Se. 4.eee); and the waiving of requirements for national or local permits or clearances for telecommunications-related infrastructure projects for a period of three years (Sec. 4.ii.1).

The Makabayan bloc in particular raised the "permits, licenses, certificates, clearances, consents, authorizations or resolutions by national government agencies, except those relating to taxes, duties, border control and environmental laws and regulations" for private projects that are "nationally significant," as determined by a committee chaired by the Finance Secretary, with the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.

"No doubt, one of the main targets of this provision is the waiver of the requirements for the issuance of Certificates of Compliance by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples attesting that private investors have secured the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent from indigenous communities for mining, agribusiness, power, water, or other projects on ancestral lands. This is a brazen power grab that will pave the way for the plunder by private corporations of resource-rich ancestral domains as well as the national patrimony as a whole," said the progressives.

The Makabayan solons thus argued that the Bayanihan 2 will further worsen the health and economic crisis due to its inadequate health response, inadequate provision for direct assistance to the most affected sectors, and continued adherence to a discredited foreign-investment-led and import-dependent framework for economic growth.

“Nagbabalat-kayo ang Bayanihan 2 bilang isang economic stimulus, ngunit malinaw sa mga probisyon nito ang prayoridad na bigyan ng emergency powers ang pangulo in favor of the ruling clique," said House Deputy Minority leader and Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate. — DVM, GMA News