Aquino seeks P39-B calamity fund

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is proposing a calamity fund of almost P39 billion for next year, Rep. Arnel Ty of party-list group Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association said yesterday.

The amount is included in the proposed P3.002-trillion 2016 national budget, he said.

He said the calamity fund, which has been renamed the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF), has three components: P19 billion “for rehabilitation, relief and other calamity-related services,” P18.9 billion for the Yolanda Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan and P1 billion for the People’s Survival Fund.

He added that the P19 billion “for rehabilitation, relief and other calamity-related services” includes P5.7 billion in “quick response funds” lodged in the budgets of six departments.

Ty pointed out that the P18.9 billion for the Yolanda Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan is on top of the P25.6 billion that government is setting aside next year “for housing for Yolanda victims.”

He called for increased government spending for new cash-for-work programs, over other forms of post-disaster humanitarian interventions.

“Cash-for-work empowers beneficiaries to spend their money based on their own priorities, and also tend to have a positive economic ripple effect on disaster-affected communities,” he said.

He said other forms of humanitarian aid such as food-for-work do not create any economic benefits beyond daily sustenance.

“If food is exchanged for work, the benefit stops there. But if cash is paid for jobs, people may use the money to buy some food plus other provisions based on their own needs, thus stimulating local trade and creating secondary economic benefits,” he said.

He noted that in other countries, cash-for-work has emerged as the most effective short-term assistance to provide immediate gainful employment and income to vulnerable segments of the community in the aftermath of a disaster.

In cash-for-work programs, able-bodied community members are provided temporary jobs in post-disaster public projects such as clearing debris, repairing roads and schools or building new homes, Ty said.

He said these programs could also enlist women to provide care to the elderly, the sick and children in temporary shelters.

He said the United Nations World Risk Index ranks the Philippines as the third most disaster-prone country in the world (after Vanuatu and the Republic of Palau), primarily due to its vulnerability to typhoons, flooding and landslides.

Of the world’s 10 most disaster-prone cities, eight are in the Philippines, according to a United Kingdom-based firm that provides global risk forecasting services to multinational corporations, he said.