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Is there room for Bayanihan 3?: Sen. Risa Hontiveros asks Finance Sec. Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez what would prod him to ask Malacañang to certify a version of the proposed Bayanihan 3 as urgent? Hontiveros, during the virtual briefing of the Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) on the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program, Wednesday, September 8, 2021, said it seems the economic managers believed that there is no more room in the General Appropriations Act for the P405 billion Bayanihan 3 of the House of Representatives or the P300 billion stimulus package proposed by Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao. Dominguez said he is willing to make a recommendation for the approval of additional spending like the Bayanihan 3 if they could find a counterpart funding that will make the expenditure as close to "fiscally neutral" as possible. He noted that the problem with the additional expenditure at this time is that the country’s expected fiscal deficit this year is already at 9.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). “So we’ve been working on this for the last six or seven months but revenues to make it fiscally neutral are not just there at the moment,” Dominguez added. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)