Local government executives of Camarines Sur led by Rep. LRay Villafuerte and Gov. Migz Villafuerte thanked President Duterte over the weekend for ordering budget officials to fast-track the release of additional calamity assistance to Camarines Sur and other provinces devastated by the three successive powerful typhoons.
Rep. Villafuerte also thanked the President for approving the Bicol river dredging project, which the congressman had proposed to the Chief Executive along with his request to augment the depleted calamity funds of local government units (LGUs) reeling from the four-fold blow by typhoons Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses along with the prolonged coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The President ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to expedite the release of the additional calamity assistance to typhoon-hit provinces during a situation briefing with local executives led by Villafuerte and son, the governor, and several Cabinet officials in Camarines Sur.
“The people of Camarines Sur thank our President for visiting Camarines Sur and for approving our request to augment the calamity assistance funds of all LGUs whose outlays have probably been exhausted already because of the three strong typhoons in succession—Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses–along with their COVID-19 response efforts,” Rep. Villafuerte said.
The President ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to expedite the release of the additional calamity assistance to typhoon-hit provinces during a situation briefing with local executives led by Villafuerte and son, the governor, and several Cabinet officials in Camarines Sur.
“Our request was approved because of the support of Senator Bong (Christopher Lawrence) Go who always sends whatever assistance he can give to Camarines Sur,” Rep. Villafuerte said.
Gov. Villafuerte also thanked the President and Go for the “welcoming news” about the augmentation of the calamity assistance for Camarines Sur, which, according to weather experts, will be among the provinces that will likely be struck by three more typhoons before the yearend.
The President gave the go-signal for the dredging of the heavily silted Bicol River to spare Camarines Sur and its surrounding areas from massive flooding during the typhoon season. But the President thumbed down a proposal for a committee to oversee the project and said he prefers only one person to lead it to ensure the project’s swift implementation.
Gov. Villafuerte informed the President about a 2013 World Bank study that underscored the importance of dredging the Bicol River, which can be implemented in phases starting next year.
“We would be glad to accommodate you, whatever it is. If the World Bank is doing the project study. Sige kung may pera (go ahead if there’s money),” Mr. Duterte told the Camarines Sur governor.
Villafuerte earlier appealed to the DBM to set aside funds for flood control projects for disaster-prone areas in Bicol, as had been committed by President Duterte himself in the past.
Villafuerte recalled for the DBM that during a situation briefing in the capital town of Pili following the year-ago super typhoon Usman, President Duterte bared his plan to abolish the graft-ridden Road Board and put its multibillion-peso funds to better use, particularly for flood-control projects in Bicol.
The President announced this plan last year after Villafuerte suggested at the briefing that a viable solution to chronic flooding is the dredging and desilting of the Bicol River.
Villafuerte earlier appealed to the DBM to set aside funds for flood control projects for disaster-prone areas in Bicol, as had been committed by President Duterte himself in the past.
Villafuerte’s province is the region’s lowest-lying area, making it a catch basin for floodwaters from other Bicol provinces whenever a typhoon strikes the region.
As regards the calamity fund augmentation, DBM Assistant Secretary Kim Robert de Leon told Mr. Duterte that once a formal request for additional calamity assistance is submitted to the Office of the President, it would take only about a week’s time for the Department to release the funds to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which will then download the money to the concerned LGUs.
“Kindly move faster kasi kailangan ng tao (the people need it). So that’s about it. It’s really the assistance that the national government can spare for the province that were hit badly,” the President said during the Camarines Sur briefing.
Rep. Villafuerte also thanked the President for visiting and inspecting Camarines Sur after the destruction in the province wrought by typhoon “Mina” in 2017 and typhoon “Usman” in 2018.
This was proof, said the lawmaker, that contrary to his critics’ wild claims, the President has always been on top of the situation on his watch, and has given priority attention to providing immediate relief to families and communities heavily affected by natural calamities.
The lawmaker earlier called on the Congress to consider setting aside a far bigger amount of calamity funds in the proposed 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA), with a significant part earmarked for relief and rehabilitation work in Bicol and other areas.
Rep. Villafuerte welcomed reports that the Senate finance committee chaired by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara is considering increasing the calamity funds for 2021, and expressed the hope that other senators would agree to Angara’s proposal.
He has also filed a House resolution strongly urging the President to “come up with a comprehensive Bicol rehabilitation program, in response to the heavy devastation by Super Typhoon Rolly,” to include the provision of “immediate relief, recovery and reconstruction for rebuilding a better Bicol.”
Villafuerte said that Camarines Sur’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan has passed Resolution No. 235 declaring a state calamity so the provincial LGU could use available public funds for relief and other forms of assistance to typhoon-struck families.
The Bicol region suffered P7.2 billion in damages to infrastructure and P2.3 billion in damages to agriculture, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
DBM assistant secretary Kim Robert de Leon said during the tekevised briefing for President Duterte that the DBM will be sourcing the regular National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) fund for the supplemental calamity funds to LGUs.
De Leon said this is equivalent to 1 percent of their IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) and takes into consideration the estimated amount of damage and the actual number of affected population based from the reports of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), respectively.