House wants unused funds to help calamity-stricken areas

Residents queue up under the rain to receive relief supplies at quake-hit Sagbayan town, Bohol province, on Thursday Oct.17, 2013. The House of Representatives has urged President Aquino to tap unused funds in the budget to provide assistance to the calamity-stricken areas of Bohol, Zamboanga City and Central Luzon. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ

MANILA, Philippines—The House of Representatives has urged President Aquino to tap unused funds in the budget to provide assistance to the calamity-stricken areas of Bohol, Zamboanga City and Central Luzon, citing legal provisions to show that he has the authority to use savings to cover deficiencies.

In a resolution adopted on Tuesday night, the House said that under the 2013 General Appropriations Act, the President, along with the leaders of Congress, the Chief Justice and the heads of constitutional commissions, could use savings to augment deficiencies in any item in their budgets.

The Administrative Code likewise allows the use of savings to cover deficiencies, and this was also upheld in a Supreme Court ruling, it added.

It noted that the earthquake in Bohol, Typhoon “Santi,” which swept across Central Luzon on Oct. 12, and the attack on Zamboanga City by Moro rebels last month had caused a lot of damage.

It cited figures from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showing that the damage the country sustained from the recent disasters stood at P4.355 billion.

Pain and suffering

The House said it adopted the resolution because it wanted to help the calamity victims and assist in the post-disaster recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the devastated areas.

“These disasters have brought pain and suffering to our people, disrupted the functioning of our communities, caused mass casualties, major damage to properties and disrupted our peoples’ means of livelihood, and caused widespread human, material, economic and environmental losses,” it said.

To ensure the calamity funds had been used properly, the House said the Commission on Audit (COA) should do a special audit of the fund releases.

The House said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should post on its website the releases from the calamity fund, indicating the amount and purpose of all disbursements.

The agencies involved in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure, as well as those in relief operations and non-infrastructure projects, should also post details of how the fund was used on their websites, the House said.

As to the use of House savings to help stricken areas, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte told reporters that while he has the power to realign savings, he could not legally channel the money to the calamity fund.

He said that it had occurred to him to use House savings to help the affected areas, but that lawyers advised him against it.

The Speaker could only use House savings to augment an item in its own budget, he said.

“They told me we could not do it because it would not be an item in the budget of the House,” Belmonte said.

To boost the calamity fund, Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon proposed the realignment of P24.5 billion in pork barrel in the 2014 budget to fund the massive rehabilitation and relief efforts in the disaster-stricken areas.

Presiding over the briefing of the congressional oversight committee at Camp Aguinaldo, Biazon on Wednesday asked the NDRRMC to determine the actual cost of destruction wrought by the earthquake and by Typhoon Santi.

Damage report

Biazon also requested the council to submit a report on the damage that Zamboanga City suffered during the three-week standoff between government forces and Moro rebels that displaced more than 100,000 people.

The Senate is moving toward scrapping the pork barrel in the 2014 budget as demanded by the public, angered by the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

But Biazon believes the pork barrel can be turned into good cholesterol.

“We definitely need additional funds to finance the rehabilitation, reconstruction and economic recovery of provinces affected by man-made and natural disasters,” Biazon told reporters after the briefing at the NDRRMC.

For that, Biazon said, Congress has to introduce a legislative response, although realigning the P24.5 billion in the pork barrel Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the 2014 budget may not suffice to finance the massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort.

Tap DAP, too

“If the funds are still not enough, maybe we can tap the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program). But we need to give it a legal cover, which may come in the form of a joint resolution of Congress,” Biazon said.