P10-B fund snagged

P10-B fund snagged

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Written by Butch Fernandez & Cai Ordinario / Reporters

THURSDAY, 08 OCTOBER 2009 01:54

SENATE leaders are not optimistic that the House of Representatives could still approve before next week’s congressional recess the initial P10-billion supplemental budget for immediate relief to thousands of Typhoon Ondoy flood victims.

But Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri held out hope that senators could rush approval of the counterpart funding bill “if the House submits its approved version by Monday.” And, he added, “if it is certified as urgent by Malacañang, we can approve the bill by Wednesday.”

The House, however, has yet to hold a committee hearing on the P10-billion budget on Monday before the bill could be brought to the floor for plenary approval, hopefully on the same day.

It was learned from congressional sources that backroom haggling in the House is hobbling early passage of the supplemental budget bill, with some congressmen lobbying for a bigger share (from P2 billion to P4 billion) from the supplemental fund for the rehabilitation of Panay towns damaged by typhoon Frank last year.

“That is the problem with the supplemental budget,” Sen. Miriam Santiago said, noting that “the deadline for our break is already upcoming. Wednesday would be our last working day before our next break. So we would not be able to accomplish a supplemental budget in the limited period that we’ve got left. That’s why we have to think how we could raise a billion or even more by other means.”

State of calamity debate

Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, commenting on demands to lift the declaration of a state of calamity in certain areas, said Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro’s recommendation is being awaited as chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). The options are “either to lift altogether all over the country or lift it in some places that are obviously [no longer] threatened by any forthcoming typhoon such as Pepeng and Quedan, and this can very well be the areas  of the entire Visayas and Mindanao.”

He expects a decision on the selective lifting of the state of calamity declaration in the next 24 hours. As NDCC chairman, Teodoro can recommend to the President the “selective lifting of the state of calamity. He specifically mentioned, probably, Visayas and Mindanao.”

Ermita sees a 90-percent chance that a selective lifting will be approved, “in the same manner that during our meeting last week, he [Teodoro] said  that the state of national calamity be declared, the President  made a decision, and indeed such was announced. [So a similar announcement on the] lifting in other places [can be made].”

 Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera explained, “We advocated  that a state of calamity be initially declared because  we have to spend for some measures  that will mitigate the effects of typhoons and calamity—so that’s the first phase. And the second component is we have the rescue operations where the calamity actually happened and then we have the relief and then we have the rehabilitation.”

She clarified that it’s the long period of rehabilitation that requires an extended declaration of calamity. “So, the one year may not even be  enough to restore the infrastructure damaged by the typhoons.”

‘Immoral’ supplemental budget

Meanwhile, civil-society groups are pressing the proposal to have the Executive dip into an estimated P140 billion in impounded funds, instead of scrambling to source money for a P10-billion supplemental budget.

Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) describes the proposed additional P10 billion to supplement this year’s calamity fund as “immoral.”

According to Merci Ferrer, executive director of HCWH-SEA and member of the Health Cluster of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), “to date, allocated budget of various government agencies in 2008 amounting to P140 billion remains unreleased and at the mercy of the President.  It is at her discretion to reallocate portion of this to the calamity fund.”

“However, the government should be stringent in disbursing the fund and must not forget the original purpose of the impounded budget [from where the calamity fund will be coming from],” Ferrer warns. 

“The P140 billion in 2008 were allocated to government agencies to provide for basic social services such as health, education, food…We have to remember that beyond disaster preparedness, there are other mouths to be fed, social services to be provided,” said Ferrer.

“While portion of the impounded budget is reallocated to the calamity fund, the government must proceed to releasing the remaining amount to its original intention,” added Ferrer.

The group is calling for release of the impounded health budget—P100 million for purchase of 16 medical waste-treatment autoclaves for government-controlled hospitals, P400 million for TB program intended for treatment of 100,000 children with primary complex and 133 patients with multidrug-resistant TB, and P1.82 billion for maternal health program.

Health budget at risk

Responding to the Department of Health’s (DOH) call to likewise tap the calamity fund, HCWH-SEA through ABI has proposed in the 2010 budget an allocation of P28.05 million for purchase of mercury-free sphygmomanometers and thermometers in 66 DOH-run hospitals. 

The DOH reported P670 million worth of damage in the 16 major government hospitals.

2 storms’ damage to farms nears P8 billion

The Department of Agriculture (DA) disclosed that damage to agriculture caused by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng has climbed to a total of P7.94 billion,

The DA Central Action Center Situationer Report released on Wednesday showed the consolidated damage in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Bicol regions, as well as the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), due to Typhoon Ondoy has reached around P6.8 billion; farm damage from Pepeng has risen to around P1.14 billion.

The impact of the damage to rice and corn production targets in the fourth quarter include 375,036 metric tons (MT) of rice. This is composed of 313,427 MT palay lost due to Ondoy which is 4.84 percent of national target of 6,478,960 MT, and 61,609 MT lost due to Pepeng which is 0.95 percent of the national target.

The DA said provinces which lost target rice production are La Union, Pangasinan, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Aurora, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Mindoro Occidental, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, and Sorsogon.

For corn, the total volume loss is estimated at 4,381 MT. Ondoy caused a total volume loss of 2,939 MT, which is 0.21 percent of the national target production of 1,396,394 MT while Pepeng caused a loss of 1,442 MT which is 0.10 percent of the target for the fourth quarter.