Aquino gov’t has no more calamity funds

Eighteen more cyclones are expected to hit the country but the Aquino government is now scrambling to find additional fund for calamity and disasters as more than half or 70 percent of the P2-billion calamity fund earmarked for 2010 was already spent by the previous administration.

In the wake of typhoon Basyang (international code Conson), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) revealed that the government needs at least P1 billion to augment the calamity fund. The remaining P600 million is allotted for quick reaction fund for relief operations of the social welfare and public works departments.

Secretary Dinky Soliman said DSWD was allocated with P333 million in calamity funds but only P136 million is left from the budget. Most of the funds were spent for rehabilitation and recovery program for displaced people affected by last year's typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma).

According to Benito Ramos, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and director of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), this problem can be solved if President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III decides to realign the existing budget.

What happened to the budget, donations and loans?

The back-to-back onslaught of Ondoy and Pepeng last year left the Arroyo government scurrying for additional calamity fund as the Office of the President already used up the P800-million emergency fund intended for calamities and disasters for Arroyo’s foreign travels.

Through a supplemental budget approved by Congress, an additional P12-million calamity fund was allocated to address relief and rehabilitation efforts in Luzon, Visayas and Metro Manila areas widely affected by the typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Frank.

Aside from budget from the government, private and international institutions gave millions in donations and humanitarian assistance for victims of typhoons. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, among those who gave huge donations were the following:

European Commission and European Union - 23 million euros or approximately P1.33 billion;
Bilateral partners - USD103.31 million or approximately P4.8 billion
Philippine National Red Cross – P192,764, 010.79
United Nations revised flash appeal for almost USD143.77 million – almost 23.6% is already funded, having received USD33.96 million plus additional USD16 million in donations

Donations in cash, in kind and loans from individual and institutional donors were also coursed through the DSWD.

Aside from donations, the Arroyo government entered into several concessional loan projects with foreign financial institutions for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of typhoon-ravaged areas.

A P6.5-billion project approved by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) will be financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency through a P5.31-billion loan, with government shelling out an additional P1.17 billion. The short-term infrastructure project was implemented by the public works department.

The World Bank extended nearly USD260 million in financial assistance to be used for environmental protection initiatives and reconstruction projects. The loan and grants will cover two projects - the “Supplemental Support for Post-Typhoon Recovery” and the “Integrated Organic Pollutants Management Project.”

In November 17, 2009, the World Bank approved an additional USD405 million loan to support the conditional cash transfers (CCT) program of the Arroyo government and for the strengthening of the DSWD as a social protection agency.

Former finance secretary Margarito Teves acknowledged the loans. He said the Arroyo administration is “committed to a transparent expenditure tracking system that will monitor and report on overall reconstruction spending.”

The aforementioned loans are ‘actual loans’ that Filipinos will pay either through higher taxes, cutback on social services in the national budget or other foreign-imposed policies.

To further collect fresh reconstruction funds, Malacanang issued Executive Order 832 creating a Special National Public-Private Reconstruction Commission (SNPRC) to undertake a study of the cause, costs and actions to be taken in the wake of typhoons. The commission partnered with the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation. So far, the Commission have raised USD5 billion (P225 billion).

Any progress report?

In April, Arroyo created the Reconstruction Monitoring and Evaluation Team (RMET) to implement a system that will comprehensively monitor funding, expenditure and progress of reconstruction efforts, provide performance results and address public concerns.

The immediate recovery efforts addressed immediate concerns like food, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, education, nutrition, agriculture, emergency telecommunications, among others. The long term reconstruction and rehabilitation is programmed for three years, with the bulk of the efforts to be undertaken next year.

As to how the loans and donations were actually spent, who were the beneficiaries and what were the results, only the previous and present governments can tell. Maybe former Executive Secretary Ricardo Saludo and businessman Manny Pangilinan, the key persons in the public-private sectors reconstruction commission can shed light on this issue.

The new DBM and DSWD officials are saying that the calamity funds are nearly depleted, the big question now is – where are the funds, donations and loans?

According to budget secretary Butch Abad, out of the P2-billion calamity fund for 2010, only P592,034,346 was left. More than P1.4 million of was spent by the previous administration in the past six months mostly for infrastructure and road projects. Abad specifically cited Lubao, Floridablanca, Porac, Guagua, Sta. Rita and Sasmuan towns in the second district of Pampanga where Arroyo was elected as representative, as beneficiaries of the fund.

This is on top of the P459-million worth of road projects spent by Arroyo last year for Pampanga’s second district according to Newsbreak.ph.

The larger part of what really happened to the millions of donations and loans remains a mystery as the Arroyo administration have not presented any detailed accounting or a transparent report on how it spent and allocated the donations it received on behalf of Ondoy victims. But a Commission on Audit (COA) report revealed that Arroyo had a history of ‘diverting calamity donations’. In 2007, the Palace had diverted P8.8 million donations for calamity areas to spruce up the Malacanang Golf Course and other questionable expenses. The dubious spending of the Office of the President under Arroyo is another story.

Problems at hand

Based on the NDCC’s latest situation report on the effects of Basyang, a total of 12,798 families composed of 64,246 persons were affected in 194 barangays of 5 cities and 47 municipalities in 12 provinces of Regions III, IV-A, V and NCR. Twenty-three were killed while 59 remain missing.

Forty five evacuation centers were utilized and provided temporary shelter to 1,685 families or 8,281 persons. As of July 15, 1,526 families or 7,545 persons are still inside 37 evacuation centers. The social welfare department alloted PP107.38 million standby funds and PP141.45-million worth of relief supplies in of its field offices in Regions III, IV-A, V, NCR and National Resource Operation Center (NROC).

Due to lack of funds, Soliman said the national and local governments will pool resources with those from the private sector to generate more logistics for use during calamities nationwide.

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites