Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 11469)
The short title of Republic Act No. 11469 is the "Bayanihan to Heal As One Act."
Section 2 declares a State of National Emergency over the entire country due to the continuing rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases and its serious threat to health, safety, security, and economic disruption.
The policy objectives include mitigating COVID-19 transmission, providing basic necessities to affected families, mitigating healthcare system burden, ensuring healthcare provision including testing and treatment, social recovery and rehabilitation programs, ensuring adequate funding, partnering with private and public sectors, and protecting collective Filipino interests.
The President is authorized to adopt measures such as implementing health guidelines, providing subsidies to low-income households, protecting healthcare workers, directing the use of private facilities for quarantine, regulating supply and prices of essential goods, enforcing grace periods on loans and rents, reallocating government funds, and other emergency measures as necessary.
Covered institutions must implement a 30-day grace period for all loans with principal and/or interest payments due within the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) period without charging interest on interest, penalties, fees, or other charges.
Covered Institutions include all lenders such as banks, quasi-banks, non-stock savings and loan associations, credit card issuers, pawnshops, other credit granting financial institutions supervised by the BSP, SEC, and Cooperative Development Authority, as well as government financial institutions like GSIS, SSS, and Pag-IBIG Fund.
Violators may face imprisonment of two months or a fine between Php 10,000 to Php 1,000,000, or both, at the discretion of the court. Public officials may also face disqualification from office, and alien offenders may be deported.
The President is required to submit a weekly report to Congress every Monday detailing all acts performed pursuant to the Act, including the amount and utilization of funds used, augmented, programmed, reallocated, and realigned under the Act.
Yes, the powers may be withdrawn sooner by a concurrent resolution of Congress or ended by a Presidential Proclamation.
No, covered institutions are prohibited from requiring waivers of the mandatory 30-day grace period, and any previously signed waivers covering payments due during the ECQ period shall be invalid.
Health workers infected with severe COVID-19 shall be compensated Php 100,000, and those who die while fighting the pandemic shall be compensated Php 1,000,000, with retroactive application from February 1, 2020.
The Act authorizes the President to enforce measures against hoarding, profiteering, price manipulation, cartels, and other unfair trade practices affecting essential goods such as food, medicine, fuel, and medical supplies to ensure availability and stability.
Unutilized or unreleased balances in special purpose funds shall be considered as abandoned for the duration of the state of emergency and are appropriated for COVID-19 response measures.
Yes, the President can direct the operation of privately-owned hospitals and facilities for medical use during the emergency, with reasonable compensation to owners and subject to safeguards under the Constitution.
Prohibited acts include disobedience by LGUs, refusal of private hospitals to operate, hoarding and profiteering, refusal to prioritize contracts, refusal to implement grace periods, spreading false information, noncompliance with transportation regulations, and impeding access to public roads.