Carrying what little remains of their earthly belongings, residents of Tacloban City, Leyte province, evacuate their homes after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated the city. INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – A move by allies of President Benigno Aquino III at the House of Representatives to realign the unreleased balance of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for 2013 drew criticism from a partlylist group, which claimed that there was something “sinister” about the November 12 resolution.
“There is something sinister hiding behind this resolution. While it intends to free up funds for the victims of ‘Yolanda’, it is in effect transferring lump-sum funds to the hands of the executive department, funds that did not go public scrutiny and are highly vulnerable to corruption,” said Kabataan Partylist Representative Terry Ridon in a statement issued Monday.
On November 12, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and several Aquino allies authored joint Resolution No. 7, “waiving all rights to the unreleased balance of the 2013 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and authorizing the executive department to realign the same to calamity fund.”
Ridon said the Makabayan bloc would file a resolution calling for the national government to come up with a supplemental budget tied to a comprehensive people-centered relief and rehabilitation plan. He added that such plan should be present for the public to see where the funds actually go.
On the opening of the 16th congress, the House on Monday finally adopted the resolution to realign the remaining Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the executive department.
The resolution stated “The Philippines has recently encountered many difficult challenges and numerous natural and man-made disasters, including the siege and unrest in Zamboanga, the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Bohol, and the onslaught of typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) urging congress to realign PDAF to calamity fund.
The resolution also stated the president may realign the same fund for repair, improvement and renovation of government buildings and infrastructures and other capital assets damaged by natural calamities.
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