HOUSE LEADERS filed a bill providing for a P1.5-trillion stimulus program over three years focused on infrastructure spending, which its authors deemed as an effective counter to job losses and slowing growth arising from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

House Bill (HB) 6709, also known as the proposed COVID-19 Unemployment Reduction Economic Stimulus (CURES) Act of 2020, targets increased spending on readily-implementable health, education, agriculture, local roads and livelihood — works in the so-called HEAL category of spending items.

HB 6709 was filed on Monday by Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte, Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Deputy Speaker Paolo Z. Duterte, Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, ACT-CIS Party-List Representative Eric G. Yap, Taguig Rep. Maria Laarni Cayetano, Anakalusugan Party-List Rep. Michael T. Defensor and Bulacan Rep. Jose Antonio R. Sy-Alvarado.

The bill seeks to create an automatic-releasing CURES Fund to bankroll infrastructure projects in the HEAL category.

The funding will support the construction of barangay health centers, municipal and city hospitals, digital equipment for testing, “tele-health” services and e-prescription systems, post-harvest facilities, and food depots, among others.

Other eligible infrastructure projects include walking or bicycle lanes; bridges across creeks and irrigation canals; evacuation centers and disaster emergency facilities; and roads going to tourist sites, beaches, mountain parks, new business districts or economic zones, and hubs for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Also qualifying for funding are farm-to-market roads (FMRs), roads connecting communities to schools and health facilities; the Enhanced Sustainable Livelihood Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Enhanced Tupad Program and Barangay Emergency Employment Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), and access to credit and financing for micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs).

An initial P500 billion of the CURES Fund will be released in the first year of the 2020–2022 economic stimulus and employment program, with P500 billion more for release in the second year, and the remaining P500 billion in the third year.

After the third year of the program’s implementation, the bill allows for Congress to enact legislation either extending or terminating CURES. Post-termination, surplus funds will be placed at the disposal of the next year’s national budget.

HEAL projects will be evaluated to prioritize local employment during or after construction work; and the potential for forward and backward linkages with local businesses, suppliers and traders, small and medium-sized enterprises, and skilled and unskilled workers.

HB 6709 also prioritizes CURES funding for areas that have low per-capita income and high poverty rates; unemployment above the national average; or affected by the decline in the tourism industry because of COVID-19-related factors.

CURES-funded projects can be implemented by both national government agencies and local government units (LGUs), subject to the execution of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).

Infrastructure projects outlined in HB 6709 will be undertaken “in conjunction” with the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa program, which was institutionalized by President Rodrigo R. Duterte via Executive Order (EO) No. 114 to decongest Metro Manila, Mr. Villafuerte said in a statement Tuesday.

Under the bill, “no projects shall be approved for implementation under the CURES Fund unless the proponent can demonstrate that said projects are shovel-ready and/or actual work on the same can realistically commence within a period of 90 working days from the release of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) from the DBM (Department of Budget and Management).”

The bill proposes the creation of a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to monitor the implementation of the CURES Act once signed into law.

HB 6709 has been lodged with the House Defeat COVID-19 committee. — Genshen L. Espedido

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