Fuel shock fears spark P400B budget call
A preliminary report by the Senate PROTECT panel outlines a multi-layered relief package targeting wage earners and low-income households.
A preliminary report by the Senate PROTECT panel outlines a multi-layered relief package targeting wage earners and low-income households.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for a supplemental budget that could reach up to P400 billion as the Middle East conflict threatens to drive up fuel prices, inflation and household costs.
Gatchalian said the government should prepare a new spending package, including a possible “Bayanihan 3,” to cushion the economic impact of prolonged global instability.
“We really need a supplemental budget or Bayanihan 3,” Gatchalian said, outlining measures such as loan payment reprieves and temporary suspension of credit card interest charges for one to two months.
“They’ll have a lot of components,” he added.
The senator, who chairs the Senate committees on PROTECT and Finance, warned that a broad social amelioration program could cost between P60 billion and P400 billion in a worst-case scenario.
A preliminary report by the Senate PROTECT panel, submitted to Malacañang, outlines a multi-layered relief package targeting wage earners and low-income households.
The proposal includes a P1,500 monthly subsidy for 5 million minimum wage earners and workers in micro, small and medium enterprises, costing P7.5 billion per month.
It also recommends P1,500 monthly cash top-ups for 3.5 million beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, with a projected cost of P15.75 billion over three months.
Additional support is proposed for 1.4 million near-poor families, who could receive P3,000 monthly aid costing P4.2 billion per month.
A similar allocation is outlined for another 1.4 million families under an expanded Walang Gutom Program.
The plan, now with Malacañang, lays out the scale of funding required should global tensions escalate and trigger sustained economic disruption.
