Congress gets P80 billion from unprogrammed fund for calamity relief

The lion’s share or P80 billion of the P100 billion rehabilitation and reconstruction fund for the aid of calamity victims will be sourced from the P117 billion unprogrammed fund under proposed P2.268 trillion 2014 budget, a House leader said Tuesday.

Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, made the disclosure a day after the House and the Senate swiftly approved the Bicameral Conference Committee Report which provides for the P100 billion allocation earmarked to respond to the string of calamities that hit the country in 2013, most notably Super Typhoon Yolanda which is the strongest typhoon recorded in the world for 2014.