House asks SC: Allow use of ‘pork’ for typhoon victims

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives is appealing to the Supreme Court (SC) to allow President Aquino to use the balance of the 2013 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to help typhoon victims.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he has asked Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza to make a formal manifestation to the SC.

Belmonte, who heads the multi-party majority coalition in the House, and other coalition leaders have decided to give up this year’s balance of their PDAF allocations and to realign it to the Calamity Fund, which the President could use for typhoon victims and devastated communities.

They have filed Joint Resolution 7, which the House would adopt next week. If approved by the House and the Senate, the resolution would be the legal mandate for the President to use the 2013 PDAF balance.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito has reportedly introduced a similar resolution in the Senate.

“There is a necessity for a sufficient amount for the effective relief and rehabilitation of the areas battered by the catastrophic natural calamities,” Ejercito said in filing Resolution 357.

By Belmonte’s computation, there is a PDAF balance of at least P12 billion for the more than 280 House members.

Additionally, he said the 2012 PDAF still has an unused portion of P1.5 billion.

However, a Supreme Court justice, who refused to be identified, has told The STAR that the House cannot realign the 2013 PDAF and authorize Aquino to use it for typhoon victims, since the tribunal has stopped further PDAF releases.

The justice said realigning the PDAF “is arguably a violation of the TRO (temporary restraining order) issued by the court (SC).”

Potential Yolanda aid

As this developed, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the unused PDAF “holds potential for Yolanda aid” once the SC lifts the TRO on the PDAF.

He said Congress’ move to augment the national government’s calamity fund that stood at P26.8 billion – aside from billions in foreign aid from 28 countries – “would help expand the government’s resources for post-disaster operations.”

“We’re very appreciative of our legislators’ decision to waive their remaining PDAF in favor of using these funds for the government’s disaster relief operations,” Abad said in a statement.

“The staggering extent of the damage that Yolanda caused has already been widely reported, and the daunting but necessary work of rehabilitating all affected areas will require us to tap as many proper fund sources as possible,” he added.

Abad noted that the PDAF, if it would remain unused, would not accrue to the next fiscal year, given the one-year limit on the validity of appropriations.

Rehab fund

Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin Drilon said a rehabilitation fund to assist victims of the magnitude 7.2 quake that struck Central Visayas and Super Typhoon Yolanda are among the priorities when the Senate resumes session on Monday.

Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Antonio Trillanes IV and Ralph Recto have thrown their support for the proposal.

Drilon asked the budget department to submit a revised version of the proposed 2014 budget to reflect a rehabilitation fund.

He proposed the creation of a Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) Fund in the 2014 national budget that would be used exclusively for the construction of housing units and repair and rehabilitation of essential infrastructure.

Under the CARE system, the release of the funds will be directly made to the implementing agencies or concerned local government units upon the recommendation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the approval of the President.

Drilon and Sen. Grace Poe also called for a review of the country’s disaster risk management efforts, including proposals to transform the NDRRMC into a separate and independent body. – With Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez, Ding Cervantes