Palace holds fewer UPLIFT meetings amid Middle East conflict

Malacañang on Tuesday said it has reduced the conduct of the United Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) committee meetings from weekly to every two weeks, amid the impact of the tension in the Middle East.

UPLIFT is a whole-of-government framework established through Executive Order 110 in March that sought to address the economic impacts of the Middle East crisis and rising fuel prices.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro explained that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. sees his Cabinet continuously working even without holding weekly UPLIFT meetings.

“Nakikita po kasi ng Pangulo na kahit hindi mag-meeting every week ngayon ay nakikita po na tuluy-tuloy pa rin po ang pagtatrabaho ng ating mga Cabinet secretaries at ang ibang ahensiya patungkol po dito para maibsan ang epekto ng krisis sa Middle East,” Castro said in a Palace briefing.

(The President can see that even though we are not meeting every week now, his Cabinet secretaries and other agencies are still working continuously to alleviate the impacts of the crisis in the Middle East.)

“So, tuluy-tuloy pa rin po. Kahit hindi po nagmi-meeting na every week, tuluy-tuloy pa rin po ang pagtatrabaho,” she added.

(So, even though we don’t meet every week, the work is still ongoing.)

Castro added that the proposed UPLIFT Bill is being considered as one of the priority measures of the Marcos administration.

“Malamang po dahil nga po iyong UPLIFT bill ay napag-usapan before. So tingnan po natin kung mapapasama ito o kung may iba pang alternatibong maaaring gawin,” she said.

(It’s probably being considered because the UPLIFT bill was discussed before, So let’s see if it will be included in the priority bills or if there are other alternatives that can be done.)

Earlier, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the government would need about P155 billion – to be sourced from agencies’ savings, realigned allotments or unreleased appropriations – to fund interventions in response to the economic impact of the ongoing Middle East war.

The DBM said the P155 billion estimated funding requirement for the UPLIFT interventions was based on the preliminary presentation of the Office of the Executive Secretary.

In March, the President declared a state of national energy emergency and ordered the adoption of UPLIFT for affected sectors.

A whole-of-government response was also activated to ensure energy supply stability, support key sectors such as transport, agriculture, and MSMEs, and protect Filipinos amid global oil supply disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict. — JMA, GMA News