SEN. Juan Edgardo Angara, Finance Committee chairman, indicated he is open to tweaking the 2023 budget especially for calamity funds, amid a proposal by the minority to realign some of the huge intelligence and confidential funds sought by some agencies so this can augment the expected huge funding needed for disaster response and rebuilding.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel prodded senators Thursday to instead cut confidential and intelligence funds that could be realigned to disaster response and recovery programs in areas devastated by typhoon Paeng.
In a statement, Pimentel said the 2023 national budget contains P9.29 billion in confidential and intelligence funds, adding that “around half or P4.5-billion of which would go to the Office of the President.” He noted that “due to the confidential nature of these allocations, they are notoriously hard to audit.”
Pimentel expressed support for raising the government’s proposed budget for calamity response for 2023. Under the proposed National Expenditures Program for 2023, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) or calamity fund is allocated P31 billion.
“Given these 20 tropical cyclones a year and the fact that the Philippines is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is imperative to pump more funds into disaster and calamity response and recovery programs,” Pimentel said.
While the proposed budget for calamity fund is already 55 percent higher than this year’s allocation of P20 billion, Pimentel said, “it could easily be proven insufficient.”
“We must re-channel non-essential PAPs [projects, activities and programs] both in the 2022 General Appropriations Act and the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 in order to fund critical programs such as the calamity fund to enable a speedy and efficient response to disasters and calamities,” Pimentel recommended.
He stressed: “We must ensure that resources are immediately available and accessible both by the national and local government.”
“Let us cut confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) and re-channel this much-needed allocation to strengthen our disaster response capabilities,” Pimentel said.
Under the 2023 proposed spending outlay, there’s a record-breaking P9.29 billion CIFs. Of which, P4.5 billion will go to the Office of the President; P806 million to the Philippine National Police; and P500 million to the Office of the Vice President; P500 million to the Philippine Drug Enforcement agency (PDEA).
“These funds can be used instead to beef up the weather forecasting capabilities of PAGASA, build houses damaged by typhoons and earthquake, and repair damaged roads and bridges,” Pimentel said, referring to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, the main agency responsible for monitoring typhoons in the country.
“Could they use their intelligence funds to monitor typhoons and floods and give us the much-needed early warnings?” Pimentel said.
For his part, Angara said: “Certainly, the Finance committee will always be open to changes, which may help our people during these difficult times and which will improve the government’s respons to these calamities.” It is the Finance committee that takes the lead in shepherding the budget bill through the Senate, which is expected to buckle down to work on the 2023 money measure when it returns from a recess on November 7.
Image credits: Senate PRIB
