Rafael L. Oriel, Jr.
26 Aug 2007

 

 

Ms. Ric, what I learned in the news today reminds me something from your previous posting.

You said, “There are children in Pangasinan whose classroom is so uninhabitable that they had to move the class outdoor. This school (Alcala’s Macayo Elem.) wasn’t ravaged by the current series of storms, but rather a left over aftermath of previous storms the previous year. One would think this would make it to the local, provincial, or national government’s priority for funding, but I guess this project, along with others like it, is not ambitious enough.”

Apparently, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. revealed yesterday that a total of P9 billion has been spent for calamity assistance to rehabilitate damaged property and public works in provinces hit by four powerful typhoons last year.

It was said that P8 billion was sourced from the Calamity Assistance and Relief Efforts funds and the balance of P1 billion was taken from the regular Calamity Fund.

According to the report, Andaya also disclosed that the calamity fund for 2008 would be increased by 100 percent from P1 billion this year to P2 billion. He said, “The doubling of funds for relief and rehabilitation of disaster-stricken areas is meant to enable agencies to quickly help victims of natural and manmade calamities and repair damaged public works”.

There you go Ms. Ric, contrary to what you think, it appears that calamity assistance was given priority for funding. It’s anybody’s guess why the classrooms of Alcala’s Macayo Elementary School ravaged by powerful typhoon last year were still uninhabitable today.

It will be very interesting to know what is happening here. If the said elementary school is included in the P9 billion calamity assistance fund, the elementary children should not be holding their classes outdoor by now.

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