Tue, August 07, 2012
MANILA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government assured Tuesday the availability of funds for disaster response and rehabilitation efforts as most parts of Metro Manila and nine nearby provinces submerged in floodwaters.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad said that the different government agencies could still tap 5. 95-billion pesos (142 million U.S. dollars) in calamity fund for this year.
He said that the DBM already released 2.989 billion pesos (71. 34 million U.S. dollars) in Quick Response Funds (QRFs) to the responsible departments early 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. "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," he said.
The 2012 budget provides 7.5 billion pesos (179 million U.S. dollars) for the calamity fund, and a balance of 291.78 million pesos (6.96 million U.S. dollars) has been carried-over from the previous year.
