DBM: Up to task force to use P4.4B Marawi funds

It will be up to the interagency Task Force Bangon Marawi to move and use all the allotted funds to rehabilitate the war-torn Mindanao city before approximately P4.4 billion in unreleased money expire this year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

“The Task Force has to act to access the funds already earmarked for Marawi rehabilitation and reconstruction projects,” Acting Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado told the Inquirer on Thursday night.

Two-year validity

It was learned during a meeting of the House subcommittee on Marawi rehabilitation last Tuesday that P4.4 billion of the P10 billion allocated under the 2018 national budget for Marawi City’s rehabilitation will already expire by yearend as they remain unreleased despite the two-year validity of these funds.

Only P5.5B released

During the hearing, legislators noted that only P5.5 billion in special allotment release orders had been released by the DBM as of the end of October.

Data on the DBM’s website showed that as end-September, only P554.5 million out of the P5.1 billion included in the 2018 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) for the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program (MRRRP) had been released.

Among the releases, P67.1 million went to the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the Department of National Defense (DND); P2.3 million to the National Youth Commission; P213.4 million to the National Electrification Administration (NEA); P244.9 million to the Department of Health; and P26.9 million to the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

Of the remaining balance amounting P4.6 billion, over P4 billion had already been earmarked for MRRRP-related projects to be implemented by the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, of the Interior and Local Government, the DND and NEA, among other agencies.

As such, there remained a balance of P547.3 million that had yet to be released and not earmarked for MRRRP under the 2018 NDRRMF.