BY KATRINA MENNEN A. VALDEZ REPORTER

The government replenished its contingency fund for typhoons and other calamities that may chance upon the Philippines in the next five months.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio Abad said President Benigno Aquino 3rd has approved the proposed P1.75 billion replenishment of the Calamity Fund.

"It was the directive of President Aquino to find ways to replenish the already depleting Calamity Fund.

DBM’s recommendation to get the funding from items that were not spent during the first semester were approved by him,” Abad said.

The DBM chief said Mr. Aquino’s approval to augment the Calamity Fund will ensure that resources will be available to defray expenses for calamity relief required when typhoons hit the country in the coming months.

The P1.75 billion will be taken from theP3.5 billion allotted for unfilled positions in various agencies.

At the end of the first semester, this fund remained unused. The DBM recommended that the allotment be declared as savings.

Under Section 60 of Republic Act 9970, “The President of the Philippines, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Heads of Constitutional commissions enjoying fiscal autonomy, and the Ombudsman are authorized to augment any item in this Act from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.”

On Monday, Mr. Aquino slammed the previous administration for squandering the Calamity Fund.

Abad said the previous administration already used up to 70.4 percent of the fund or P1.407 billion during the first six months of the year, leaving P592 million for the new government.

Given the approved P1.75 billion replenishment, the Aquino administration now has P2.342 billion at its disposal.

Data from the National Disaster Coordinating Council showed that Pangasinan suffered the most number of displaced people at 1.4 million due to last year’s typhoons, followed by Rizal.

Pampanga reported 275,631 persons affected by Typhoon Pepeng and 459,247 persons affected by Ondoy.

In the first half of this year, Pangasinan has received P5 million, while Rizal was excluded from the coverage of the Calamity Fund.
Pampanga however received P104 million.