ON Thursday, a bicameral committee finally passed the second version of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) bill, which is intended to extend the technically expired Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which was passed in March. Bayanihan 2 is a combination of stimulus and funding authorization for continuing pandemic response measures, and its total price tag — about P165.5 billion — is close to the amount the Department of Finance has suggested the country can reasonably afford.
The version passed by the joint committee still has to go through the formality of ratification by the House of Representatives, which is expected to take place on Monday, August 24, and be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, but no last-minute objections to it are anticipated. In spite of the lengthy deliberations by the bicameral committee — five meetings covering almost 40 hours — the final version only differs in inconsequential details from the versions passed by the House and Senate, respectively, and from what was requested by the Duterte administration.