Public urged to monitor use of foreign aid

MANILA, Philippines - The group Social Watch Philippines urged the public to monitor the use of foreign aid and Philippine funds in rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

In the forum “Watching Where the Aid Goes,” Social Watch Philippines lead convenor and former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis Briones cited data from the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub or FAiTh’s website showing that foreign aid has reached over P22 billion in cash and non-cash pledges, and that the Philippine government has already received around P531 million in cash.

“Receiving foreign aid is very heartwarming as a humanitarian effort, but the relief efforts are still primarily the government’s responsibility. There should also be a note of caution on relying on foreign aid because it is also inherently political,” she said.

Briones said the national government can match the amount of foreign aid received.

“We’re counting millions in (received) foreign aid but our national budget has billions available. There are many fund sources available like the P7.5-billion calamity fund, other items in the special purpose funds, and recently, the P14-billion supplemental budget passed in Congress,” she said.

Briones, however, noted that these funds are still appropriated as lump sums.

Social Watch Philippines has campaigned for fund realignment to government agencies and local governments, and line-item budgeting instead of lump sum appropriations for better transparency and accountability.

“There is an urgent need to monitor and pressure the government to have an effective rehabilitation plan for Yolanda victims. We can’t allow the money, both national funds and foreign aid, to be wasted or corrupted,” Briones said.

Meanwhile, environmentalists advised newly appointed rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson to look at the work ahead as an opportunity to establish climate-resilient communities using renewable energy (RE) systems.

“Yolanda caught us completely unprepared forcing us to deal with serious consequences of climate change. Aside from the human tragedy, we also have to deal with the socio-economic impacts,” said Amalie Obusan, regional climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.