Senate eyes P30 billion more for disaster funds

Senate of the Philippines | FILE

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate finance committee will endorse the allocation of some P30 billion for the government’s disaster response programs for 2023 amid the recent devastation wreaked by severe weather disturbances, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara said on Wednesday.

Angara, who chairs the committee, said he would present to the plenary on Nov. 8 the Senate finance panel’s report on the P5.3-trillion General Appropriations Act, the first spending program under the Marcos administration.

He said the proposed calamity fund for next year was bigger than what Congress approved in the previous years.

“Given the increased frequency and magnitude of recent typhoons, this is appropriate,” Angara told reporters.

“Certainly, the committee will always be open to changes which may help our people during these difficult times and which will improve the government’s response to these calamities,” he added.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said that the chamber was on track to approving the proposed national budget on the third week of November as scheduled.

He said the Senate would conduct marathon plenary debates on the budget when the 19th Congress resumes its regular session on Nov. 7 after going on a month-long break.

The various Senate finance subcommittees were able to wrap up the deliberations on the budget requests of all state agencies two weeks ago.

“Over the course of the hearings, our subcommittees carefully combed over our agencies’ programs and spending [requests]… to ensure that the 4.9-percent increase from this year’s budget is warranted,” Zubiri said.

The committee, he added, also made sure that next year’s spending program would be responsive to the government’s efforts to revive the country’s pandemic-torn economy.

“Of course, we are only halfway up the hill. There remains a lot more work to be done in the plenary, where we will finalize the budget,” he said.

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