(Eagle News) — The Senate on Tuesday, July 28, approved the proposed Bayanihan To Recover As One Act on third reading.
Voting 22-1, senators gave the green light to Senate Bill 1564 that, if passed into law, would provide an additional P140 billion for the country’s economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The approval came a day after President Rodrigo Duterte urged Congress to pass the same.
The President made the call as he thanked Congress for the swift passage of the Bayanihan We Heal As One Act, which gave the chief executive supplementary powers to address the COVID-19 crisis.
That Bayanihan law lapsed on June 24.
Prior to Duterte’s State of the Nation Address, the House of Representatives Committee of the Whole already approved its version of Bayanihan law 2, a substitute bill extending the validity of the original Bayanihan law.
The Senate, however, adjourned in June without passing its version on third reading.
With the Senate’s final approval of Senate bill 1564, a bicameral conference meeting will be held to reconcile the House of Representatives and Senate versions.
Senator Sonny Angara, author and sponsor of the Senate bill, said Bayanihan law 2 is expected to be passed in a few weeks.
