Budget wanting in disaster preparedness

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA—This year’s P2.265-trillion national budget is big on rehabilitation, but appears to be wanting in disaster preparedness, former National Treasurer Leonor Briones said Friday.

Last Thursday, President Aquino also signed a P14.6-billion 2013 supplemental budget for relief and rehabilitation of disaster-hit areas.

Briones observed that the big-ticket items in the 2014 budget involved the rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas devastated by a supertyphoon, other storms and an earthquake amounting to at least P113 billion.

“What about disaster preparedness?’’ she said, pointing out that the government should have allotted an equal amount for adequate preparation  of municipalities such as fortifying public buildings, evacuation centers and homes.

After all, one key lesson from Supertyphoon ‘‘Yolanda’’  was that government funds should send money to local government units way ahead so they could prepare for a typhoon’s landfall, the university professor said.

Otherwise, “you’d see the dead lining the streets the next day,’’ she added in a telephone interview.

Briones said the government and the Filipino people were efficient at providing relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of calamities, but in some instances, have yet to prove efficiency in disaster preparedness.

“We know many things. We know what’s happening, but we’re not preparing for it. We pick up the pieces after disasters, and then another disaster occurs,’’ she said. “Yolanda is not going to be our last disaster.’’

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad admitted that most budget allocations were for continuing relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

“But the reconstruction will already incorporate resiliency measures, like design and standards,” said, citing the following examples: “buildings that can withstand 300 kph winds, no-build zones, hospitals rebuilt as evacuation centers with water supply, generator sets and medical supplies prepositioned.”

Environmentalists from Aksyon Klima Pilipinas have been pushing for the activation of the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) to support initiatives by local government units and communities to adapt to climate change and reduce disaster risks.

In the 2014 budget, however, the Executive Department and Congress allotted P500 million for the PSF under the unprogrammed fund, meaning this could be implemented only if government revenues exceed the targets.

The activation of the PSF has apparently been tied by the delay in the signing of implementing rules and regulations of the PSF law by the President.

“I can’t understand the logic of the budget system,’’ Briones said, agreeing with observations that the 2014 budget was a “reactive budget.’’

The 2014 budget included P113 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda and other calamities.

This is broken down into P13-billion calamity fund (up from P7.5 billion), P20-billion rehabilitation reconstruction program and P80 billion for reconstruction projects under the unprogrammed fund.