MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang Sunday clarified that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s calamity fund amounted to only P2 billion a year, and not P15 billion as may have been misconstrued in a story on the amount of damage wrought by Typhoon “Frank” (international code name: Fengshen) on the country.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Golez had said: “The damage the country incurs is P15 billion (a year) and Frank has reached P12 billion in damages already.

Golez, who is also spokesperson for the National Disaster Coordinating Council, said Malacañang had not spent that much for relief and rehabilitation efforts in Panay island.

“We don’t have that much, and we never spent that money in Panay,” he said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer story of July 6 did not say President Arroyo’s calamity fund was P15 billion for the year but that the fund had been tapped for relief and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the three typhoons that had hit the country.

Golez had said that should the fund run low due to the damage wrought by Frank, “I’m sure the President will consult with her budget manager, Secretary Rolando Andaya, on where they could get more funding for these projects.”

In a June 20 interview, Golez said that if the government pooled the calamity funds of all the local government units, the amount could reach between P15 billion and P17 billion, equal to the amount of destruction wrought by the 20 or so typhoons that hit the country every year.

“All the LGUs have their 5 percent local calamity fund equivalent to (as much as) P17 billion, but they are distributed all over the country and not just in Panay,” Golez said Sunday. Michael Lim Ubac