Palace: Sufficient funds to assist storm victims

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang assured yesterday the victims of tropical storm “Sendong” that there are enough funds to assist them even as officials appealed to various sectors not to politicize the issue.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad announced that the Aquino administration was ready to use P1.297 billion in calamity-response funds to help victims of the typhoon.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) also has enough funds to provide relief to the victims.

“They still have P300 million in their coffers,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the government has specific funds for disaster preparedness and the supposed veto of the P5-billion allocation for this in the 2011 budget should not be used to mislead the public at this time so they would blame President Aquino.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said relief agencies were ill-equipped to deal with the latest typhoon because Aquino had vetoed the use of calamity funds for disaster training and to prepare relocation sites.

“We have always maintained that we need to clear the esteros and waterways of people there and that’s the danger zone that we have always been emphasizing and that’s the reason why we’re also providing for housing for people in those areas,” Lacierda said.

“And, like I said, specific agencies have funds for that so we can address those situations. So I would like to ask Congressman Palatino, now is not the time to point fingers. Now is the time to help out in the tragic incident in Mindanao,” he said.

Abad said with the calamity fund, the government is ably equipped to mobilize and support disaster relief efforts in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and other storm-affected areas.

“We are ensuring the quick release of these funds so that victims will receive swift and proper assistance,” Abad said.

The P1.297-billion calamity fund under the 2011 budget would be released immediately, Abad said, as he also noted that the 2012 budget allocated P7.5 billion to the calamity fund, up by P2.5 billion or 50 percent from this year’s budget.

Abad added that the DSWD, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of National Defense (DND), and the Department of Education (DepEd) were also adequately supported by separate Quick Response Funds (QRFs), which would guarantee direct and immediate support to Sendong-stricken areas.

“In addition to the Calamity Fund and the QRFs, we also have the Local Government Support Fund shares of all affected local government units, for whom President Aquino will provide Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Allocation (NCAs) tomorrow,” Abad said. – With Paolo Romero, Iris Gonzales, Mayen Jaymalin, Marvin Sy