Gas fund eyed for Leyte, Samar

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla wants to tap the P137-billion Malampaya Fund to solve the power crisis in Samar and Leyte, which were flattened by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The money will be used to acquire generator sets of which Leyte will need at least 20. Petilla said he was optimistic President Aquino would allow the use of the fund for this purpose. The generators would be leased to local government units until the power situation returned to normal.

The Malampaya Fund represents the royalties the government collects from the Malampaya gas project. Began in 2002, the $4.5-billion project involves the extraction of natural gas from the waters of Palawan.

The fund is managed by the Department of Finance and is primarily intended for energy-related projects, but it could also be used for other purposes approved by the President.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, wants to see a P20-billion rehabilitation outlay in the 2014 national budget in order to give President Aquino more funds at his disposal to quicken recovery efforts in times of calamity.

On top of standby fund

In a briefing, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said the rehabilitation fund would be on top of the President’s standby fund that critics claim is similar to the pork barrel of legislators as both were booked lump sum in the national budget and their release was at the discretion of the officials.

While the House has passed its version of the P2.268-trillion proposed national budget for 2014, the measure’s version in the Senate is pending on second reading.

Thus, the House, Belmonte said, would make its amendment to the bill in the bicameral conference committee when the two chambers meet to reconcile their respective versions.

“The President has the power to realign [funds] as we have always maintained but nonetheless Congress should take into view these tragedies and calamities that have been happening in the country. We decided to take the initiative to create a rehabilitation fund and we will see to it that the 2014 budget will not leave the bicam committee without the plan,” Belmonte said.

The Speaker said the Senate wanted to keep the rehabilitation fund at P10 billion, or half the P20 billion the House wanted.

Belmonte proposed that the P20 billion be taken from the budgets of government agencies already allocated in the 2014 budget.

Earlier, the House deleted its P24-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, from the 2014 budget (an equivalent amount was spread out to hundreds of projects in several agencies handpicked by the lawmakers).

The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the PDAF in August as it tackled the cases questioning the legality of the pork barrel.

Belmonte said the lower house had likewise dropped its bid to get at its remaining pork barrel for this year.

The House has issued Joint Resolution No. 7 “waiving all rights to the unreleased balance of the 2013 PDAF and authorizing the executive branch to realign the same to the calamity fund,” in view of the spate of natural and manmade disasters that struck the country this year, most recently Supertyphoon Yolanda.

‘Providential’

“With this waiver, the impounded PDAF is effectively converted into savings and the President may use the funds for the repair, improvement and renovation of government buildings and infrastructure in disaster areas,” said Belmonte.

He said the House had instructed the Office of the Solicitor General to indicate to the Supreme Court that it was “not interested in the almost P12 billion in its remaining pork for this year.”

Ako Bikol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, who filed a separate resolution to realign the frozen pork to the calamity fund together with Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara, said it was “providential” that the three branches of government would have to work together to realign the frozen pork.

“We need the concurrence of the House, the lifting of the TRO by the SC and the approval for release by the President. It seems that God wants us to unite as a nation for the good of our people after the pork barrel scam, the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) and corruption issues in the judiciary,” Batocabe said.

Belmonte said House leaders also filed Resolution No. 446 authorizing the deduction of P10,000 from the November salary of each of the 289 members of the House as part of their contribution to the victims of Yolanda.