Sen. Nancy Binay INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Nancy Binay on Saturday criticized Budget Secretary Florencio Abad for impounding the P300 million she had asked to be allocated to the National Housing Authority (NHA), saying the move deprived thousands of calamity victims of decent homes.
Binay, in a statement, said the amount was not her realigned priority development assistance fund (PDAF) as stated in reports, since she received none when she became senator in 2013.
She said the P300 million was an amendment to the proposed 2014 budget, which finance committee chair Sen. Francis Escudero accepted.
According to Binay, she requested the amount to be allocated to the NHA because the agency had no funding for calamity assistance and resettlement in the 2014 budget.
Expiration
The fund expires at the end of the year.
“The explanation of Sec. Butch Abad that he did not release the P300 million to the NHA because there was no special request from the proponent is unacceptable,” she said.
“What he did put thousands of displaced and homeless Filipinos who were victims of (Supertyphoon) ‘Yolanda’ and (Typhoon) ‘Ruby’ in harm’s way since they live in tent houses up to now. His excuse is totally unacceptable,” she added.
The senator’s father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, is the country’s housing czar.
Senator Binay further said that the allocation of the P300 million went through the proper budget deliberations and processes. The budget was approved by Congress and signed by the President, so the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had no reason to withhold the amount, she added.
Intentional
She also said the reported impoundment of the fund was intentional.
“I don’t want to think that the NHA is being singled out by Secretary Abad because of politics. But this is the third time the DBM has reduced the NHA budget,” she said.
She recalled the DBM first slashed NHA’s budget for 2014 and gave zero allocations for calamity assistance and resettlement. It also redirected the budget for resettlement of informal settlers to the Department of Interior and Local Government.
“There should be no politics when it comes to helping people, especially when it comes to emergencies and calamities,” she said.