The Philippine government assures the public of the availability of funds for disaster and relief operations in the country.
This is the assurance given by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as Typhoon Ruby continues to move across the country.
In a statement, Abad said that “The current year’s budget can fully support emergency operations as they’re needed, especially in the wake of Ruby. To date, the National and local governments have been working together to ensure that pre- and post-disaster activities are executed well,”.
The Administration has recently approved the augmentation of the 2014 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) with P2.61 billion for the government’s relief and emergency response activities.
Added to this budget, a number of government departments have been given a Quick Response Funds (QRFs) amounting to a total of P5.34 billion ready to use specifically for this situation. Here is a breakdown of the QRFs per department:
DEPARTMENT AVAILABLE QRFs
Department of Agriculture P406M
Department of Education P564M
Department of Health P500M
Department of National Defense P448M
Office of Civil Defense (DND) P765M
Department of Social Welfare and Development P1.01B
Department of Transportation and Communications P1B
Department of Public Works and Highway P650M
TOTAL P5.34B
Aside from the government’s budget, Abad added that funds coming form aid organization, citizen groups, and ordinary Filipinos are all pitching in so we can weather this latest calamity.
