Tolentino: Bayanihan 2 law provides for 30-day grace period, 3-gives payment on utility bills, rental fees

The P165-billion Bayanihan 2 law provides the public a 30-day grace period and three-gives installment scheme for paying their utility bills and their lease amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Francis Tolentino said Monday.

Tolentino was referring to the Bayanihan 2 provision directing  all institutions providing electric, water, telecommunications, and other similar utilities to implement a minimum 30-day grace period for the payment of utilities falling due within the period of enhanced community quarantine and modified enhanced community quarantine without incurring interests, penalties, and other charges.

The same law provides that after the grace period, unpaid utility bills of residential and micro, small, and medium enterprises may be settled on a staggered basis payable in not less than three monthly installments, subject to the procedural requirements of the concerned regulatory agencies in the imposition of such installment plan without interests, penalties, and other charge.

“We thank President [Rodrigo] Duterte for including our ‘three-gives’ proposal, which will unburden many Filipino consumers in the payment of their bills, especially during this time,” Tolentino said.

“This would definitely help affected sectors to recover from the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Bayanihan 2 on Friday.

Prior to the Bayanihan 2 law passage, the government has already released P3.932 trillion of budget sourced from the 2019 continuing appropriations and the 2020 national budget to fund the government’s response against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of this P3 trillion, P389 billion was sourced from the Bayanihan 1 law.

The Philippines has recorded 261,216 COVID-19 cases thus far. Of this number, 207,568 recovered while 4,371 died.

The number of active cases is at 49,277.—AOL, GMA News