Philippines

(i) 10 June 2020, The BSP re-offered other tenors in its term-deposit facility (TDF) and started a measured increase in offer volumes in its RRP facility with a PHP200-billion auction offering in line with the stabilization of liquidity conditions and normalization in the BSP's monetary operations; (ii) See the short-term lending component of (vi) in Measure 3A.

(i) PHP10 billion Land Bank of the Philippines loan program for LGUs to increase their emergency funding. As of 10 October 2020, an additional PHP10 billion has been made available; (ii) PHP2.8 billion additional funding for DA’s Survival and Recovery Assistance Program (SURE Aid) for affected farmers and fishers; (iii) PHP1.203 billion for DTI loan program for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for enterprise development training and livelihood kits. As of 29 July 2020, the Department of Trade and Industry announced a new funding source worth PHP3 billion for its CARES lending program for MSMEs. A further PHP1 billion in additional funding was secured from state-owned banks; (iv) Up to PHP15 million loan assistance from the DA for micro and small enterprises engaged in agriculture and fisheries production; (v) June 2020, PHP3 billion lending program for "study now, pay later" schemes in private schools by the Land Bank of the Philippines. As of 1 July 2020, PHP260 million have been approved; (vi) 10 July 2020, PHP1.5 billion LBP I-Study lending program offering short-term (<1 year) loans for preschool to secondary students and term loans (up to 3 years) for tertiary students; (vii) 11 September 2020, PHP52 billion from the Bayanihan 2 package, of which: (a) PHP18.4725 billion from the regular appropriations and PHP9.0275 billion from the contingency funds of the Bayanihan 2 package to support wholesale banking and equity infusion of the LBP for low interest loans to be extended to persons and entities engaged in industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) PHP6 billion from the regular appropriations and PHP6.5 billion from the contingency funds of the Bayanihan 2 package to support wholesale banking and equity infusion of the DBP for low interest loans to be extended to persons and entities engaged in industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; (c) PHP10 billion additional funding from the Bayanihan 2 package for the CARES Program of the SBCorp and for its other lending programs, as well as interest subsidy, to be extended to MSMEs, cooperatives, hospitals, tourism industry, and OF Ws affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and by other socioeconomic reversals; (d) PHP2 billion from the Bayanihan 2 package to subsidize the payment of interest on new and existing loans secured by the LGUs from LBP and DBP at PHP1 billion each; (viii) 12 March 2021, The Social Security System (SSS) released PHP31.69 billion in calamity loans to 2.12 million member-borrowers, PHP30.47 billion in salary loans to 1.28 million members, and PHP3.4 billion pension loans to 74,799 borrowers in 2020; (ix) 29 October 2021, SSS launched (a) the Housing Loan Restructuring and Penalty Condonation Program which allows qualified SSS housing loan borrowers, successors-in-interest, and legal heirs to pay outstanding principal interest, insurance dues, and legal expenses within 90 days from their notice of approval [update].

(i) PHP2.9 billion purchase of medical equipment and supplies; (ii) PHP1.8 billion for 1 million personal protective equipment (PPE) sets procured by the Department of Health; (iii) PHP22.1856 billion PhilHealth medical expenses coverage for COVID-19 patients and assistance to health workers, which includes PhilHealth medical coverage, compensation for severe infection, and death benefit; (iv) PHP420.6 million for COVID-19 medical coverage; (v) Allocation of PHP53.2 million by the Department of Science and Technology for production of test kits developed by the University of the Philippines -National Institute of Health; (vi) PHP2.7015 billion expedited clearance and tax and duty-exempt importations of PPE and medical goods; (vii) PHP511.8 million compensation for private facilities used for the purpose of fighting COVID-19; (viii) Healthcare equipment and supplies exempted from import duties, taxes and other fees; (ix) Tax exemptions for donations of cash, critical healthcare equipment, relief goods, and the use of property for fighting COVID-19; (x) 5 May 2020, Temporary elimination of tariffs and other taxes and fees on qualified manufacturers and suppliers of medicines, medical equipment and devices, or articles needed in the supply chain, among others; (xi) 19 May 2020, The Department of Finance announced that a total of PHP58.6 billion have been marshalled to support frontline workers and increase health system capacity; (xii) 11 September 2020, PHP40.525 billion from the Bayanihan 2 package of which: (a) PHP13.5 billion to the DOH for the continuous employment of existing emergency HRH and additional emergency HRH for hiring; and augmentation for operations of DOH hospitals; special risk allowance for all public and private health workers directly catering to or in contact with COVID-19 patients for every month that they are serving during the state of national emergency; actual hazard duty pay for all health workers serving in the front line during the state of national emergency; free life insurance, accommodation, transportation and meals for all public and private health workers; and compensation to public and private health workers who may contract mild or severe/critical COVID-19 infection while in the line of duty, and those who may die while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) PHP3 billion for procurement of face masks, PPE, shoe covers and face shields to be provided to all local health workers, barangay officials, and other indigent persons that need protection to prevent the spread of COVID-19: Provided, That preference shall be given to products manufactured, produced, or made in the Philippines; (c) PHP4.5 billion to finance the construction of temporary medical isolation and quarantine facilities, field hospitals, dormitories for frontliners, and for the expansion of government hospital capacity all over the country; (d) PHP4.5 billion for the construction and maintenance of isolation facilities including billing of hotels, food and transportation to be used for the COVID-19 response and recovery program by the Office of Civil Defense as the head of the National Task Force against COVID-19; (e) PHP5 billion to finance the hiring of at least 50,000 contact tracers to be implemented by the DILG which shall include, but not limited to, recruitment, training, compensation, monitoring, logistics, and operational expenses; (f) PHP10 million for the HTAC research fund to provide for the commissioning of more COVID-19 research and enhance its internal capacity of evidence generation; (g) PHP15 million for the establishment of a computational research laboratory in the University of the Philippines-Diliman Institute of Mathematics to process big data analysis for COVID-19 and other pandemic research; (h) PHP10 billion for COVID-19 testing and procurement of COVID-19 medication and vaccine; (xiii) 28 December 2020, The President signed the PHP4.1 trillion 2021 budget into law which includes PHP72.5 billion for the country's COVID-19 vaccination program and PHP2 billion for the purchase of personal protective equipment. PHP210.2 billion is alloted to the DOH; (xiv) 2 February 2021, USD84 million contribution to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility to ensure the delivery of 40 million doses of vaccine; (xv) No amount/estimate: 17 February 2021, The government signed the indemnification agreement with vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and AstraZeneca under COVAX facility negotiations; (xvi) No amount/estimate: 25 February 2021, The DOF has approved to include importations of COVID-19 vaccines in the “Mabuhay” or express lane to allow speedy processing of tax and duty exemptions for them. Applications will be processed within 24 working hours; (xvii) 26 February 2021, Passage of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 into law establishing a PHP500 million indemnification fund which will shoulder the medical costs of Filipinos should they experience “adverse effects” after getting vaccinated for the coronavirus. The law also provides that the procurement, importation, donation, storage, transport, deployment, and administration of COVID-19 vaccines will be exempted from customs duties, value-added tax, excise tax, and other fees; (xviii) No amount/estimate: 1 March 2021, The Philippines began the inoculation of healthcare workers and other medical professionals under the A1 category. 7 June 2021, The mass vaccination of economic front-liners under the A4 category started; (xix) 5 March 2021, Australia is allocating about AUD35.9 million (about PHP1.3 billion) to support Manila in its vaccine rollout, mostly through technical support and capacity-building efforts, as part of Canberra's AUD523 million Regional Vaccine Access Initiative that seeks to assist in fast and safe vaccination in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. As of 17 June 2021, Canberra has provided Manila at least AUD7.52 million (around PHP277 million) to boost its vaccine rollout through Australia’s Vaccine Response Plan; (xx) No amount/estimate: 19 March 2021, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by Russian medical-research institute Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology. 23 August 2021, The FDA approved the EUA for the single-shot Sputnik Light from Russia; (xxi) No amount/estimate: 7 April 2021, The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) allocated PHP204 million for the hiring of informal sector workers as contact tracers in the NCR+ area. Contact tracers are only allowed to work for four hours a day under Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) Program (see item (vii) in Measure 5B3)); (xxii) No amount/estimate: 17 April 2021, The government has finalized deals with vaccine manufacturers Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax, and Gamaleya Research Institute. To date, the Philippines has purchased 25 million doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac, 13 million doses of Moderna, 20 million doses of Gamaleya's Sputnik V, and 45 million doses of Novavax; (xxiii) No amount/estimate: 28 April 2021, The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) has included COVID-19 in its list of occupational and world-related diseases and is now a compensable disease. An employee affected by Covid-19 will be receiving PHP30,000; (xxiv) No amount/estimate: As of 10 May 2021, FDA has granted EUA to six Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech, Gamaleya Institute, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Sinovac Biotech; (xxv) No amount/estimate: 14 May 2021, The Philippines has secured 202 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from various pharmaceutical companies and the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility. Of the total, 158 million doses were government-procured while 44 million doses were secured through the COVAX facility; (xxvi) No amount/estimate: 31 May 2021, Vaccination of qualified individuals under the A4 priority group including those who work outside their homes and government workers will begin in June 2021; (xxvii) No amount/estimate: 8 June 2021, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use of individuals 12 to 15 years old. Earlier in January, the EUA was cleared only for individuals 16 years old and above; 11 June 2021, (xxviii) No amount/estimate: 100,000 doses of government-procured Sputnik V vaccine arrived; (xxix) No amount/estimate: Over 3 million COVID-19 arrived, of which, 2,074,410 are made by Pzifer-BioNtech while the rest by Sinovac; 17 June 2021, (xxx) No amount/estimate: Additional 1.5 million doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine arrived, 1 million of which were purchased by the government, while 500,000 were purchased by the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII); (xxxi) Australia is providing AUD13.72 million (approximately PHP505 million) worth of coronavirus vaccines to the Philippines. The vaccines will be purchased in coordination with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); (xxxii) As of 17 June 2021, Australia has contributed around AUD130 million (approximately PHP4.78 billion) worth of vaccines through the COVAX Facility; (xxxiii) No Amount/estimate: 20 June 2021, The government signed a supply agreement for 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The procurement of the 40 million vaccine doses will be financed through a multilateral arrangement with the ADB. 16 million doses from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson are still under negotiation; As of 20 June 2021, (xxxiv) No amount/estimate: The Philippines has secured the delivery of 113 million doses from five manufacturers namely, Sinovac with 26 million doses, Sputnik V with 10 million doses, 20 million doses from Moderna, 17 million doses from AstraZeneca, and 40 million doses from Pfizer; (xxxv) No amount/estimate: The COVAX Facility has committed to deliver a total of 44 million doses in 2021; (xxxvi) No amount/estimate: 24 June 2021, DOH has included the Philippine Red Cross’ (PRC) saliva reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT- PCR) test in all official laboratory results done in the Philippines; (xxxvii) No amount/estimate: 25 June 2021, Emergency use authorization has been fully granted to India-based Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine called Covaxin; (xxxviii) No amount/estimate: 28 June 2021, A first shipment of 249,600 doses of Moderna vaccine arrived [update]; (xxxix) 6 July 2021, The Japanese government signed a JPY687 million (approximately PHP308 million) grant aid to provide the country much-needed cold chain transport and ancillaries for its vaccine rollout; (xl) No amount/estimate: 8 July 2021, The Japanese government donated 1.124 million vaccines developed by AstraZeneca. The shipment arrived on 9 July 2021; (xli) 15 July 2021, A donation of 420 intensive care unit beds worth PHP23.9 million arrived from the United States; No amount/estimate: (xlii) 17 July 2021, The first half of the US-donated 3.2 million Janssen vaccine doses arrived; (xliii) 22 July 2021, The government has secured 164 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for 2021, of which: 26 million are government-procured Sinovac doses, 40 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses, 13 million Moderna doses, and 10 million Sputnik V doses; (xliv) 3 August 2021, To date, the U.S. has donated 6.24 million COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility; (xlv) 3 September 2021, The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially approved the use of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for adolescents, allowing it to be administered to those aged 12 and up; (xlvi) 13 September 2021, The Philippines will pursue the ivermectin clinical trial to will provide local data with regard to the safety and efficacy of ivermectin. It will respond to the WHO's call to conduct quality clinical trials, because of the insufficiency of good evidence for use or non-use of ivermectin. Recruitment of participants will start on 15 October 2021; (xlvii) 23 September 2021, A total of 43.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered nationwide, of which, 23.4 million Filipinos have received the first dose while 18.8 million are now fully vaccinated; (xlviii) 29 September 2021, The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) received PHP57 million worth of medical equipment, supplies, and PPE from the Australian government; No amount/esitmate: (xlix) 15 October 2021, pediatric age-group vaccination will start with the 15 to 17 years group followed by the 12 to 14 years group; (xlx) 20 October 2021, A total of 53.3 million doses have been administered nationwide, of which, 28.6 million were used as first doses while 24.7 million were given as second doses. A total of 3,416 children aged 12 to 17 with comorbidities have been vaccinated against COVID-19; (xlxii) 15 October 2021, Pilot run of pediatric vaccination (children aged 12-17 with comorbidities) in 8 NCR hospitals. 22 October 2021, vaccination expanded to LGU-based hospitals [update]. 29 October 2021, start of the nationwide will roll out of pediatric vaccination [update]; (xlxi) 29 October 2021, start of the nationwide roll out of pediatric vaccination, following the pilot in the National Capital Region (NCR) on October 15 and 22 for the 12-17 age group with comorbidities [update].

(i) 23 March 2020, To further support the Filipino people during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Monetary Board authorized the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to purchase government securities from the Bureau of Treasury (BTR) under a repurchase agreement in the amount of PHP300 billion with a maximum repayment period of 6 months. On 26 August 2020, The BTR stated programmed borrowings from the BSP total PHP500 trillion (out of a ceiling of PHP540 billion) in 2020 and PHP1 trillion in 2021. After the passage of the Bayanihan 2 Law on 11 September 2020, the cap on provisional advances by the BSP to the national government has effectively increased to 30% of the government's average revenue for fiscal years 2017-2019 or from PHP540 billion to PHP850 billion. On 30 September 2020, The BSP approved an additional PHP540 billion provisional advance to the national government following the Treasury's repayment of the initial PHP300 billion advance (this brings the total borrowing to PHP840 billion versus the PHP850 billion ceiling). 29 December 2020, The Treasury announced it is seeking another PHP540 billion loan from the BSP; (ii) 26 March 2020, The BSP remitted PHP20 billion pesos in dividends to the national government despite no longer being required to do so under its newly amended charter.

(i) The government has put the Luzon island, including Metro Manila, under an “enhanced community quarantine” starting 12 March 2020; (ii) Suspension of flights from high-risk economies; (iii) 12 May 2020, The government announced an easing in quarantine measures in many areas of the country after 15 May 2020 but will extend lockdowns in certain areas in the National Capital Region (NCR), Cebu City, and Laguna province; (iv) 28 May 2020, The Government announced the easing of lockdown measures in NCR and remaining areas under enhanced community quarantine by 1 June 2020; (v) 3 June 2020, Domestic flights for essential travel resumed; (vi) 7 July 2020, Authorities lifted restrictions on non-essential outbound travel. On 23 October 2020, Authorities announced that foreigners with investors visa will be allowed entry into the country starting 1 November 2020. On 29 December 2020, Authorities announced a ban on travelers from 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, where the new coronavirus variant has been detected from 30 December 2020 to 15 January 2021. On 15 January 2021, the travel ban was extended to 31 January and applied to 32 countries. 27 April 2021, Travelers from India has been banned from entry into the country from 29 April 2021 until 14 May 2021. 5 May 2021, Travelers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have all been banned from entry into the country beginning 7 May until 14 May 2021. 1 June 2021, Restrictions currently imposed on inbound travelers coming from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates has been extended until 15 June 2021. 14 June 2021, Entry restrictions on passengers coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Oman have been extended until the 30 June 2021. 29 June 2021, Travel ban from these countires has been extended until 15 July 2021. 14 July 2021, the travel ban now includes Indonesia amid the Delta variant threat. 25 July 2021, Travelers from Thailand and Malaysia will be prohibited from entering the Philippines amid the threat posed by the more transmissible Delta variant until 31 July 2021. 30 July 2021, Leisure point-to-point flights are suspended, for areas under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions (GCQ-HR). 6 September 2021, Travel ban has been lifted for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Inbound passengers are, however, still required to comply with the appropriate entry, testing, and quarantine protocols. 11 October 2021, The UK removes the Philippines from the “travel red list". 29 October 2021, The Philippines has put the PRC and 45 other countries in its green list [update]. 3 November 2021, Israel now accepts vaccinated Filipino tourists [update]; (vii) 27 February 2021, The government announced that it is no longer mandatory for travelers to undergo COVID-19 testing and quarantine, except if the local government unit (LGU) of destination will make testing as a requirement prior to travel. Testing will be limited to RT-PCR test; (viii) 11 March 2021, A uniform and longer curfew hours will be imposed in the NCR for two weeks from 15 March 2021 in response to the surge of COVID-19 infections in the region; (ix) 17 March 2021, Entry of foreigners and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) who are considered as non-overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is suspended from March 20 until April 19 amid a spike in Covid-19 cases and the entry of new variants in the country; (x) 27 March 2021, NCR+ (National Capital Region, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal) was put under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for one week from 29 March to 4 April 2021. 3 April 2021, ECQ was further extended for another week until 11 April 2021. 11 April 2021, NCR+ has been put under the less restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until 30 April 2021. 28 April 2021, MECQ was further extended until 14 May 2021 while the rest of the country will be under the less restrictive General Community Quarantine (GCQ). 13 May 2021, NCR+ has been put under stricter GCQ  beginning 15 May 2021, and on 1 June 2021, it was further extended until 15 June 2021. On 13 June 2021, The Philippine National Police (PNP) will maintain heightened measures on border control points so that the virus will no longer spread from one place to another. On 15 June 2021, NCR+ is still placed under GCQ with more relaxed restrictions. 16 July 2021, Metro Manila has been placed under a more relaxed GCQ. 30 July 2021, “additional (heightened) restrictions” has been imposed in Metro Manila unitl 5 August 2021, and will shift to ECQ from 6 to 20 August 2021. 21 August 2021, quarantine status in NCR, Laguna, Bataan downgraded to MECQ. 7 September 2021, Metro Manila will remain under the stricter MECQ until 15 September 2021; (xi) 4 June 2021, All individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Philippines can leave and enter the country with shorter quarantine period of 7 days upon return. 11 June 2021, Fully vaccinated senior citizens residing in areas under GCQ and modified GCQ (MGCQ) have been allowed to travel within their zone. Interzonal travel is still prohibited, except for point-to-point travel that was previously allowed. 24 October 2021, 14 Philippine destinations have waived RT-PCR and antigen testing for fully vaccinated guests [update]; (xiii) 22 July 2021, An initial three chartered flights will bring home stranded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the Middle East next week and early next month; (xiv) 30 August 2021, The OneHealthPass for travelers and returning overseas Filipinos will be implemented beginning 1 September 2021. The The OneHealthPass is an online platform that aims to promote the convenient and seamless movement of international travelers from departure from the country of origin to arrival at the local government unit of destination; (xv) 6 September 2021, The Philippines has adopted a new Red-Yellow-Green system that will limit international arrivals. The new listing is based on incidence rates and case counts as primary criteria and testing data as secondary criteria. Yellow list countries are classified as moderate risk, red list countries are classified as moderate risk. The green list (low risk countries) has been in place prior to the red and yellow tiers (For details and list of countries in these tiers, see https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1152583). 19 September 2021, the government has released an updated roster of “red, yellow, and green” states and territories to take effect until 30 September 2021. Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Serbia and Slovenia have been added to the red list. 8 October 2021, fully-vaccinated international travelers from “green” or “yellow” states need to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of the negative result of their RT-PCR test taken on their fifth day in the country. They shall then be required to undergo home quarantine until their 10th day, with the day of arrival as their first day. Those unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, as well as those with unverified vaccination status are required to undergo facility-based quarantine until the release of the negative result of their RT-PCR test taken on their seventh day in the country; (xvi) 16 September 2021, Start of the pilot implementation of granular lockdowns and alert level system until 30 September 2021. Under the granular lockdown, the government can put high-risk areas under ECQ while the rest of the country are under GCQ. Meanwhile, the new community quarantine classifications will have five alert levels that would determine the activities allowed in cities and/or municipalities (For details, see https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1153489). 16 September 2021, Some 57 areas in NCR have been put under granular lockdown. Metro Manila is under Alert Level 4 of the five-tier alert system, to strike a balance between curbing Covid-19 spread and slowly reopening economic activities. 20 October 2021, The alert level system (ALS) initially piloted in Metro Manila will be implemented in other provinces until the end of the month. 5 November 2021, Metro Manila will be under a more relaxed Alert Level 2 quarantine classification until 21 November 2021 [update]; 11 November 2021, The government has authorized the nationwide the Alert Levels System (ALS) to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country [update]; (xvii) 4 November 2021, The passenger capacity for rail lines and selected public utility vehicles (PUVs) operating in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces is increased from the current 50% to 70% [update].