TACLOBAN CITY — The Regional Development Council (RDC) 8 (Eastern Visayas) is still awaiting updates on the request to reallocate unspent multi-billion funds meant for the rehabilitation of areas hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda that were returned to the National Treasury.
National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director and RDC Vice Chairman Bonifacio Uy said Wednesday they hope to get positive feedback from the national government on Thursday, in time with the fifth commemoration of the killer typhoon.
Last August, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Special Concerns (OPASC), headed by Undersecretary Wendel Avisado, asked the Bureau of the Treasury to provide them an official report of the total amount of “Yolanda” funds reverted to the National Treasury from 2014 to present.
The funds are needed since there are still remaining rehabilitation concerns that must be addressed, especially on permanent housing, Uy said.
“Use of those funds was really identified to meet (the) specific reconstruction needs of the region. Those were resources devoted to ‘Yolanda’ rehabilitation and that should be reverted back to the region,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Citing a report from the Department of Budget and Management, the NEDA regional chief said about PHP737.24 million of post-“Yolanda” funds from 2013 to 2017 had been reverted to the Bureau of the Treasury.
Also included among the reverted budget is the big chunk of PHP18.89 billion 2016 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) that expired in December 2017.
The 2016 allocation was released late in 2016 or early 2017, giving the agencies less time to procure and obligate the funds within the year, Uy said.
The consolidated unspent budget came from the calamity fund, NDRRMF, quick response fund, automatic and supplemental appropriation, realignments and savings, and regular agency funds, among others.
“These funds were not utilized as some agencies encountered issues in the procurement of ‘Yolanda’ projects, such as processing of documents and usufruct agreement,” Uy said.
Since the super typhoon struck in 2013, some PHP146.2 billion had already been released for post-disaster recovery in all affected areas in central Philippines.
About 46 percent of the funds or PHP67.1 billion was intended for Eastern Visayas. (Sarwell Meniano/PNA)
