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Duterte signs law on additional powers for COVID-19 response

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Arianne Merez, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/03/24/goprrd.jpg"/><figcaption>President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, Sen. Bong Go said early Wednesday. The measure declares a national emergency in the country and grants Duterte special powers to address the COVID-19 threat. (Handout photo)</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA- President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Tuesday a bill that gives him additional powers to strengthen government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after Congress urgently deliberated and passed the measure within a day.For a limited time, Duterte, under the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” will have more powers that includes the authority to reallocate government savings to coronavirus-related programs, control private businesses under special circumstances, and grant exemptions from procurement laws.Malacañang on Tuesday said the law is a response to the “urgent need” to secure the “success of the measures established by the national government in eradicating the threat to our national survival.”Congress held a special session on the measure on Monday. “There is an urgent need to implement measures that will help address the health scare brought about by the spread of COVID-19 in our land,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.The new law also states that a subsidy will be provided to low-income households hit by the work stoppage due to the virus threat.Duterte earlier placed the entire Philippines under a state of public health emergency and later a state of calamity to provide the government with enough leeway to tap into emergency funds for response to the pandemic.The President was granted additional powers a week after Luzon, the Philippines’ most populous island, was placed under a lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 which has infected 552 people in the country as of Tuesday afternoon. - with reports from Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Tuesday a bill that gives him additional powers to strengthen government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after Congress urgently deliberated and passed the measure within a day.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Tuesday a bill that gives him additional powers to strengthen government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after Congress urgently deliberated and passed the measure within a day.

Duterte signs law on additional powers for COVID-19 response

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Duterte signs law on additional powers for COVID-19 response

Arianne Merez,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 25, 2020 01:05 AM PHT

|

Updated March 25, 2020 02:32 PM PHT

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Rodrigo Duterte

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Philippines pandemic

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Bayanihan as One

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