Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Calamity funds are not meant to be spent instantly since the government has to save them for future calamities and natural disasters, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was responding to a news report that a total of P25.14 billion in calamity funds from the 2020 and 2021 national budgets remains unutilized as of March this year.
Citing Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado, Roque said calamity funds are only released “when the need arises.”
“‘Yung natural calamities daw po ay hindi nangyayari sa isang beses lamang so kinakailangan i-release ‘yan kapag humingi, or in response to a particular disaster or natural calamity,” he said in a Palace briefing
(Natural calamities don’t happen just once so the funds need to be released only in response to a natural disaster or calamity.)
READ: P25 billion in calamity funds unspent amid pandemic
He also said that the figures in the news report “seems bloated” since it included the calamity funds for 2021, which were meant to last until December of this year.
“Parang bloated po ‘yung nasa pahayagan na hindi ginagastos yung national calamity funds. Siyempre di gagastusin lahat dahil kinakailangan mag-save ng pondo para sa darating na calamity,” Roque said.
(The report seems bloated because of course, you don’t spend the calamity funds right away to prepare for the other calamities.)
This time citing National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Ricardo Jalad, Roque said the agency’s budget for 2021 is at P20 billion, of which P15 billion are still unspent.
Meanwhile, about P2 billion also remains unspent from the 2020 budget of the NDRRMC.
According to the report, which cited the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), P5.14 billion in the 2020 National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF) remain unreleased as of March 31.
Meanwhile, the entire P20 billion set aside for this year’s calamity fund was untouched as of end-March.