Two years after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” brought devastation in the country, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) admitted the government only has 62.5 percent of its rebuilding budget for affected communities.
In a statement, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, said that a total of P93.87 billion has been released from 2013 to October this year to fund projects for Typhoon Yolanda-hit communities, way below compared with the estimated P150 billion budget needed for the rehabilitation in central Philippines.
“The scale of the damage is unprecedented. And given that it was unforeseen, the total amount needed for the reconstruction efforts is not something that can be accommodated within the Calamity Fund,” Abad said.
“So we needed to find various funding sources within the budget,” Abad said, adding that the government moved to implement various measures to source funds for Yolanda response.
Details of these fund releases and projects are now available on the DBM website, which will show the list of fund releases disaggregated per year and per implementing agency, Abad said.
“The DBM communicates honestly and openly at all times regarding the fund releases we make pertaining to programs and projects of the government,” Abad said.
“Here are the facts on how much public funds we have released for Yolanda projects so far and where we sourced them in the budget for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015,” he added.
Abad also said that a total of P46 billion is allocated for Yolanda projects in the proposed 2016 budget, adding this amount is composed of P18.9 in Special Purpose Funds and P27.3 billion lodged in agency budgets.
The amount of P18.9 billion is for the Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program (YRRP), the master plan to build back better infrastructure, livelihood support, resettlement, and social services.
This amount is part of the P38.9-billion National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF), a Special Purpose Fund in the 2016 budget.
In addition to the P18.9-billion YRRP, the amount of P25.6 billion was lodged in the budget of the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the construction of housing units for Yolanda victims.
Meanwhile, the amount of P992 million was lodged in the budget of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and the amount of P660 million was lodged in the budget of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for the installation of water and power lines in Yolanda-hit communities and resettlement sites.
Source: http://www.mb.com.ph
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