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MANILA - The Aquino administration has nearly P6 billion in unused calamity funds, which can readily be augmented to respond to calamities for the rest of the year, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.
Abad said the government still has P5.950 billion left unspent for this year. “These funds are readily available to enable national government agencies to immediately respond to the needs of localities and citizens affected by calamities,” he said.
Besides the available calamity fund, the DBM previously released P2.989 billion in Quick Response Funds to the responsible departments early this year, as follows:
- Department of Social Welfare and Development, P662.5 million;
- Department of National Defense-Office of Civil Defense and Office of the Secretary, P530 million and P352.5 million, respectively;
- Department of Education, P550 million;
- Department of Agriculture, P500 million;
- Department of Public Works and Highways, P224.286 million; and
- Department of Health, P170.195 million.
“We are ready to augment these QRFs and the Calamity Fund if needed. We have enough savings that can be realigned to support disaster response and rehabilitation activities,” Abad said.
This year's calamity fund stands at P7.5 billion, P291.775 million of which was carried over from last year.
Unlike in the preceding fiscal years when the QRFs have been tucked into the Calamity Fund, the 2012 budget allocates QRFs separately under the budgets of departments, Abad said.
Some P10.489 billion has been appropriated for the Calamity Fund and QRFs this year, double the P5-billion last year.
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