Lawmaker calls for add’l calamity funds in 2021 budget

Villafuerte welcomed reports that the Senate finance committee chaired by Senator Sonny Angara is considering increasing the calamity funds for 2021. (File: Photo courtesy of PIA Region 5 via PNA)

MANILA – A lawmaker on Thursday called on Congress to consider augmenting the calamity funds in the proposed 2021 national budget with a significant part earmarked for relief and rehabilitation work in Bicol and other areas struck by Super Typhoon Rolly.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said both the Senate and the House of Representatives could look into realigning non-priority outlays in the 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), as well as funding for programs and projects other than those intended for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.

Villafuerte said the local government units (LGUs) badly hit by the typhoon are most likely in need of calamity funds this early since their allocations for such purpose have probably been depleted already because of the Covid-19-related initiatives in their respective localities.

He said Camarines Sur, for instance, needs all the assistance it can get from both the government and the private sector, as it is “reeling from the triple whammy” of Typhoons Rolly and Quinta, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The executive and legislative branches need to work together in getting the cyclone-battered provinces back on their feet at the soonest time possible as the absence of such a recovery plan would be a drag on the national government’s efforts for the domestic economy to bounce back from the fallout of the coronavirus-induced global health and economic crises,” he said.

Villafuerte welcomed reports that the Senate finance committee chaired by Senator Sonny Angara is considering increasing the calamity funds for 2021.

“We are currently studying the possibility of supplementing the calamity funds for 2021,” Angara was quoted as saying in a media report this week. “We are looking for fund sources for realignment at the moment.

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Villafuerte cited a preliminary damage report released by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) secretariat showing that “Rolly” affected 251,000 families, 24,458 farmers, and 34,350 fisherfolk in the province’s 1,036 barangays; destroyed P752 million-worth of crops; and damaged PHP1.9 billion-worth of infrastructures like roads, bridges, dams, irrigation systems, school buildings, and government facilities.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said LGUs can request additional funds from various government agencies to respond to the effects of Super Typhoon Rolly.

Roque said LGUs with depleted calamity funds due to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) can ask for augmentation support through the quick response funds (QRF) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Office of Civil Defense, Department of Health, and Department of Agriculture.

Other agencies with QRF allocations include the Department of Education, Department of Public Works and Highways, and National Electrification Administration.

“‘Yung mga lokal na pamahalaan bagamat hindi pwede na directly ma-replenish ng national government ‘yung kanilang naubos na calamity funds, pupwede silang humingi ng augmentation sa mga national agencies na meron pong quick response funds (While the national government cannot directly replenish the local government’s depleted calamity funds, they can ask for augmentation from national agencies with quick response funds),” Roque said.