92 Tadem are the places that we need to focus on for mass testing, contact tracing and support for communities and hospitals” (Cepeda 2020). Robredo lamented that existing data is “riddled with errors and inconsistencies” and that the DOH is slow in conducting contact tracing and data validation, thus causing backlogs in test results. A former adviser to the government’s COVID-19 task force, Dr. Antonio Leachon, disclosed that “one of the biggest problems the Philippines is facing is managing data related to the virus,” citing timeliness issues, backlogs, transparency shortfalls, poor communication, and delays in validation due to lack of encoders and manual forms (Sabillo 2020). Spend more on poor and marginalized sectors of society The government had claimed in early August 2020 that it does not have the funds to expand coverage and continue the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), having used up the entire budget of Php 390 billion earlier allocated for that purpose (Geducos 2020). To this end, a second SAP law was passed on September 11 but with reduced allotments of only Php 165 billion, an amount that may still fall short of what is needed to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn on the poor and unemployed. Some legislators acknowledge the inadequacy of existing social amelioration funds and have filed additional bills to address the expected shortfalls.2 The country’s economic managers, however, worried about the country’s financial and economic fundamentals and determined to keep to the projected 2020 budget deficit of no more than nine percent of gross domestic product (GDP), have opposed any more government spending via SAP for COVID-19 responses and rejected proposed bills in Congress that would do precisely that (Buensuceso 2020). The government claim that the public coffers have dried up in August is disputed by an independent COVID-19 Citizens Budget Tracker Team (ibid.). The group calculates that, as of June 2020, only 63 percent, or Php 246 billion, of the SAP 1 budget had been spent; furthermore, the government’s own available cash sources showed an unspent amount of Php 998 billion as of that same month. The team, therefore, concluded that government has not been spending enough and has the capacity to spend more to ease the COVID-19’s effects on the people. There is a need to allocate more funds for testing and contact tracing which, though improving, are still below targets. Furthermore, senators have also criticized the slow pace of release of SAP 2 funds given that two months before the program expires on December 19, 2 Pending bills in Congress include a Php 1.3-trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy of the Philippines (ARISE) and a Php 1.5-trillion COVID-19 Unemployment Reduction and Economic Stimulus (CURES).