President Rodrigo Duterte in his taped speech on Monday night said he would want to allocate the still unused funds from the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2 to be allocated for the quarantine expenses of returning overseas Filipinos.
The President asserted that there were PHP10 billion unused funds from the Bayanihan 2. “I read it in a newspaper now that about P10 billion. Yes, billions remain not utilized,” he said
“Congress appropriated so much money for Bayanihan 2. I think if may residual pa diyan naiwan, it behooves upon the government to pay for the sequestration expenses of every returning Filipino,” he added.
Duterte said paying for the quarantine expenses of returning Filipinos was the least that the government could do to alleviate their burden since most of them lost their jobs.
“I am ordering now everybody including the government units i-hotel nila o ano man, babayaran ng national government ‘yan. As to when there is money and we will do it as fast as we can,” Duterte added.
The President ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government to hasten the process.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque previously announced that some P18 billion pesos remained unused.
