Negros Or. PB shelves disaster monitoring fund

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  — The majority bloc of the Negros Oriental Provincial Board succeeded in setting aside for the second time an urgent request from Governor Roel Degamo for a P4.5 million budget to fund a project mandated by the national government.

 Degamo, in his letter last June 29, appealed to the PB to carry his refiled request for approval of Supplemental Budget No. 8 of the General Fund to defray the cost in the inventory of all province-owned infrastructure and facilities. This was in compliance with DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2011-47, issued by Secretary Jesse Robredo, which mandates local governments to inspect infrastructure projects and buildings as part of the national government's effort to minimize disaster risks, said the governor.

During the first deliberation of the request, PB Member Melliemoore Saycon (2nd District) motioned for its disapproval questioning the absence of technical persons, of which the majority bloc believed were needed for this project.

Degamo conceded then, and later complied with the requirement by refiling it with 15 engineers of the monitoring team. "Ila na nga rason ang gibutang nako pag-refile nako sa (request), gi-accommodate nako ang request nila nga kato ilang mga rason nga para i-refile nako pagbalik, so meaning to say nakabalo na sila kung unsa ang rason ana kay ila mana," the governor told The FREEMAN. "I don't know again, kung unsay rason nganong dili pa na nila aksyonan," he said.

In the July 5 session, PB Member Rotelio Lumjod (2nd District) asked the body to defer the discussion of the item in the agenda, "subject to further study and deliberation," but PB Member Jessica Jane Villanueva-Koppin (1st District) objected to this arguing that the PB already discussed and deliberated on the issue as a whole when the first request was disapproved and returned to the Office of the Governor for amendment.

PB Member Saleto Erames (2nd District), for his part, said there was no need "for much time to study" because the issue was already taken up when the first request was discussed in a committee hearing. "Most of us here were in favor of this appropriation request to be refiled and this is now the refiled request," he added.

Ex-officio PB Member Erwin Macias (PCL) said decisions could not be forced by time and, as such, he would be in favor that what would be discussed during the next session on July 11 would be the amendments made from the original request with no assurance of resolution to the request.

Degamo emphasized the urgency of approving the measure because the DILG is not only making a follow up on the province's compliance with the three-month old order. "Disaster monitoring mana sa atong mga project. Gikinahanglan na na nato karon especially nga niabot napud ning tig-ululan napud, tigbagyo, so gikinahanglan na gyud na nato," he said.

The governor said: "I am appealing to the PB members na ila na gyud nang i-approve kay importante kaayo na nga project sa atong probinsya especially nga prone kaayo ta sa landslides and flooding. So naghangyo intawon ko sa mga board members na ila na nang i-approve."

Majority of the cost of the project will go to the payment of 85 technical persons, skilled workers, and utility workers who will be conducting the inventory, which involves the checking for the strength, rigidity and resistance to wind and seismic loadings of the provincial government's infrastructure projects and facilities, particularly buildings and other vertical structures. (FREEMAN)