Catanduanes Forum

NO MONEY for P10-billion Ondoy fund - DBM

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated October 10, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines -The government has no money for the additional P10-billion calamity fund that senators and congressmen are proposing for this year, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.

“There are no funds for this. There is no way we can certify that funds are available,” he told the House appropriations committee, which conducted a hearing on the proposal.

Rep. Junie Cua, committee chairman, said the extensive damage wreaked by storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” require that Congress appropriate additional calamity funds since the P2-billion calamity fund in the 2009 budget “is almost depleted.”

“But in passing a special appropriations bill, we have to meet certain requirements prescribed by the Constitution. These are a certification from the Bureau of Treasury that funds are actually available, and in case funds are not available, the bill should be accompanied by a revenue measure,” he said.

He said he had asked the treasury last week to issue the required certification, but that no such document has been given to his committee.

Majority Leader Arthur Defensor reminded the committee that the House has approved a P10-billion rehabilitation fund for Iloilo and other Western Visayas provinces devastated by typhoon “Frank” last year.

“But the measure is sleeping in the Senate committee on finance chaired by Sen. Edgardo Angara because it lacks the necessary certification that funds are available,” he said.
“We are hoping that Western Visayas could share in the proposed P10-billion additional calamity fund, but now we are facing the same problem,” he said.

Defensor pleaded with Andaya, a three-term congressman before joining President Arroyo’s Cabinet and former appropriations committee chairman, to come up with a remedy.

The budget secretary suggested that the President be authorized through a joint Senate-House resolution to tap the so-called “unprogrammed fund” in the 2009 budget for the rehabilitation needs of typhoon-ravaged areas.

But since this fund is not supported by actual cash, the government would have to resort to additional foreign borrowings, which would increase this year’s budget deficit, he said.
Defensor, Cua and other members of the appropriations committee agreed to adopt Andaya’s suggestion.

Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza told his colleagues that he has reservations about further bloating the budget deficit as it would make life difficult not only for typhoon victims but for every Filipino.
Administration officials project this year’s funding gap at P250 billion, but some investment banks see it breaching the P300-billion mark. The deficit for the first six months has hit P188 billion.

A small group of senators and congressmen led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Cua agreed on the proposed P10-billion additional calamity fund a few days after Ondoy inundated many parts of Metro Manila and Rizal.

In a related development, Rep. Satur Ocampo of the party-list group Bayan Muna urged the Arroyo administration to make a public accounting of the millions of dollars in donations from the international community for typhoon victims.

“Every single centavo must be used to ensure the health, security and rehabilitation of the victims and their homes, as well as their damaged communities. The Arroyo government must be frequently reminded that it’s a mortal sin to steal from those who have already lost everything,” he said.

He said based on the latest reports, donations and pledges from foreign countries and international organizations have amounted to more than $13.22 million or around P615 million.
Ocampo suggested that the Commission on Audit and private auditing institutions be tapped to monitor the acceptance, disbursement and accounting of donated funds.