Bayanihan 2 eases loan payments, telco hurdles. Inquirer Newsletter. August 16, 2020

No images? Click here   CELEBRATING CHRISTIANITY   A monument depicting the first Mass in Butuan City features the images of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan with Rajah Kolambu, the King of Butuan, and his brother, Rajah Siagu, the King of Mazaua. The commemorative site is at Bood Promontory Ecopark, built on a hill overlooking Masao River, or El Rio de Butuan. —ERWIN MASCARIÑAS     News PGH team: Mass testing ‘not feasible’ While various groups have called for mass testing to help contain COVID-19, a team at the Philippine General Hospital points out the costs and limitations of this strategy. Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Sports Magno, Obiena keep eyes on the same prize There are stark differences in the Olympic journeys of boxer Irish Magno and pole vaulter EJ Obiena. But both Filipino athletes are bound by a single goal. Read more: sports.inquirer.net   Lifestyle Arnold Janssen Bahay Kalinga offers ‘dignified services’ to the poor In pandemic times, it’s not always about fighting a virus. It’s also about fighting for people with little-to-nothing means for day-to-day survival. Read full story: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/368180/arnold-janssen-bahay-kalinga-offers-dignified-services-to-the-poor/   Lifestyle PGH shares lessons learned in war against COVID-19 Battles are often won with the help of lessons learned from the past. One hospital is the best resource for how to deal with a crippling pandemic. Read full story: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/368556/pgh-shares-lessons-learned-in-war-against-covid-19/   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19 and the enhanced community quarantine. Subscribe   Start listening     Banner story Bayanihan 2 eases loan payments, telco hurdles By Leila B. Salaverria A joint congressional panel has moved closer to concluding discussions on the proposed Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or the Bayanihan 2 bill, after adopting, among others, two key provisions—a 60-day extension for loan payments during the pandemic and a three-year suspension of permits to build cell phone towers. The bicameral committee on Friday discarded both the Senate’s proposed 30-day grace period for the payment of all loans, including credit card bills, and the one-year extension in the House version of the bill, according to the office of Sen. Sonny Angara, chair of the finance committee. The administration’s economic managers led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez  III strongly opposed the House’s 365-day blanket moratorium, saying it would harm the banking industry. Asked to comment on the compromise period, Dominguez on Saturday said: “Maximum of 45 days is better.” He told a business forum last week that the earlier House measure would “negatively affect the financials of banks and other credit providers, which, in turn, will affect their ability to provide new loans to borrowers or pay interest to their depositors who vastly outnumber their debtors.” “Ultimately, the entire economy will disproportionately lose more than the gains borrowers will make,” said Dominguez, President Duterte’s chief economic manager. BSP objection Benjamin Diokno, governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), said in a statement on Thursday a lengthy grace period could strain the liquidity and capital position of banks. Any resulting “inability of a bank to service withdrawal may trigger a bank run and will undermine the confidence of the public in the banking system,” he said. Several private sector economists and the Bankers Association of the Philippines also warned of adverse effects on the financial system and investor confidence from such a measure. Diokno said the House proposal would limit the availability of credit in the country as banks adopt stricter underwriting standards or completely deny credit to some sectors, including micro, small and medium enterprises. “Adopting a 365-day moratorium on loan payments will pose serious risks to the soundness of banks and financial stability in general,” he said. “A one-size-fits all prescription is unwise.” Cell tower building “A sound banking system is one of the aces in our sleeve,” Diokno said. “It is one of the reasons why the Philippines has received affirmation from credit rating agencies amid 82 sovereign downgrades and 104 outlook revisions from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year.” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that during Friday’s meeting, the bicameral panel also adopted a provision in the Bayanihan 2 bill that suspends for three years most of the permits needed for building new cell towers to improve telecommunications in the country. Drilon on Saturday said he proposed the suspension of most of the 29 to 35 permits and documentary requirements, except for the building permit. Telecommunications companies have complained that the numerous requirements, and the delays in their release, hampered the construction of necessary infrastructure to improve connectivity in the country. Mr. Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address last month, threatened them with expropriation if they failed to improve their services by December. “With this amendment, we can address this very complex process that hinders the country from being at par with our neighboring countries in terms of internet speed and connectivity,” Drilon said in a statement. Many requirements “It is deplorable that the Philippines continues to have one of the slowest internet connections in Southeast Asia and even among Asia-Pacific countries,” he said. The permits and requirements for the construction of a tower include consent from neighbors, a barangay resolution, zoning and height clearances, radiation evaluation studies, a building permit, a city or municipal resolution, occupancy permit, mayor’s permit and a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Drilon said that if a homeowners’ association refused the construction of cell towers, a referendum supervised by the barangay council could be called to resolve the issue. He also introduced a provision saying that only the Supreme Court could issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against the construction of telecommunications infrastructure, including cell sites and towers. Reliable, faster internet According to him, the three-year suspension of most of the permits would allow the telecommunications companies to speed up the improvement of their infrastructure. The services they provide have become more crucial amid the pandemic, since many transactions as well as classes are done online given movement restrictions and physical distancing requirements, Drilon said. Reliable and faster internet connection would help the implementation of the Department of Education’s blended learning strategies, he added. “Internet today has become a basic commodity. It is a tool that we can utilize for work and education as we deal with the pandemic. Many businesses today are heavily dependent on the internet,” Drilon said. ‘Thank you’ from Jaza Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (Jaza), chair of Globe Telecom Inc., lauded Drilon’s proposal to simplify the requirements for the construction of the towers. “I cannot tell you how important this is. A very big thank you from all of us in the industry,” he said in a text message to the senator. Also on Friday, the bicameral committee approved a provision giving a P15,000 cash assistance to health workers who contract mild and moderate COVID-19, and a onetime cash assistance for teachers, teaching personnel, nonteaching personnel in private schools, as well as part-time faculty members of state universities and colleges, who did not receive aid under Bayanihan 1. The panel also agreed to fund COVID-19 testing and the condonation of loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries. The Senate bill provides P10 billion to procure supplies for COVID-19 testing and to enhance the capacities of the Department of Health. The House version provides a P10-billion subsidy to the National Health Insurance Program to cover COVID-19 testing and confinement. —WITH A REPORT FROM BEN O. DE VERA Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Editorial Guinea pig nation Serious concerns have been raised over the process Russia has taken for its so-called Sputnik V vaccine. The skepticism over Sputnik V, including among Russia’s medical experts no less, should give anyone pause. But such reports appear not to have reached President Duterte, because on Monday he committed himself, and the Philippines, to be the virtual guinea pigs to the Phase 3 trials of Russia's purported vaccine. Mr. Duterte, 75, who once said Putin was his "hero," not only profusely welcomed Russia's free vaccine offer, he also volunteered to be the first to get inoculated and be the subject of foreign experimentation. The Philippines, together with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and possibly Brazil, is now set to be among the countries where the Phase 3 trials will be conducted. No wonder Russia offered the vaccine for free. And yet no trace of the slightest reservations about this monumental decision bound to affect the health and well-being of Filipino citizens seems evident in either Mr. Duterte's statements or Malacañang's explications. Where is the word of caution, at the very least, from the ineffectual health secretary? Shouldn't it be that if a vaccine is still not good enough for the rest of the world, then it shouldn't be good enough for Filipinos? The ignominy of an already-battered country ending up as a 'demonstrator group' for testing an unproven drug, with all the danger that entails—because the President so happens to think the world of Vladimir Putin.  Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net   Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe