Reversion of unspent Guimaras rehab funds to national gov't imminent
How to spend the money.
Government agencies implementing rehabilitation projects for oil-spill affected residents and areas in Guimaras are facing this "problem" after delays in disbursement of rehabilitation funds will most likely cause a portion of the P863-million rehabilitation fund to be reverted to the national treasury at the end of the year.
The concern of reversion of funds intended for oil-spill affected areas and residents was raised during a joint meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Technical Management Group and the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council of Western Visayas on Monday.
DBM Director Carmencita Delantar said funds released to agencies should be obligated by the end of the year or it will be considered lapsed and automatically reverted to the national treasury.
A fund intended for a project is considered obligated if the corresponding bidding and awarding of contracts have been completed.
With the Christmas holidays coming, Delantar said that there is not enough time for agencies to obligate funds that have been released by the DBM.
The DBM has allotted around P600 million of the total P863 million as of December with at least half (P300 million) in cash releases, Delantar said in an interview.
While she said the bulk of the allotment has been obligated, it is most likely that some funds will be reverted. She declined to give the details on how much will be reverted, saying she has still to collate the reports of the various agencies.
Congress passed the supplemental budget law last year after the M/T Solar 1 chartered by Petron sank in stormy seas off Guimaras on August 11, 2006, spilling more than 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil it was transporting from Bataan to Zamboanga.
The oil spill affected 5,437 families or 26,740 individuals in Guimaras alone and contaminated fishing grounds and devastated the island's rich marine life and tourism sites.
Scientists have reported a 65 percent drop in fish catch after the oil spill and hundreds of mangrove trees have died.
The P863 million fund includes appropriations to the Department of Agriculture (P100 million), Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (P130 million), Department of Health (P22 million), DSWD (P247 million), local government units (P250 million), UP-Visayas (P50 million), and other agencies (P64 million).
But the disbursement of the funds and the implementation of the rehabilitation projects have been stalled by bureaucratic procedures.
The delay had prompted former Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela, then head of the Task Force Solar I Oil Spill, to ask President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to issue an administrative order that would fast track the release of the remaining fund.
In September, the DBM approved the release of P227.73 million to various agencies.
During the meeting, NDCC Executive Officer Glen Rabonza lamented that in some agencies, the funds have not reached the regional office in Western Visayas two months after the DBM released the fund to the agency's central office in Manila.
"That's very slow. Two months delay is hard to explain," Rabonza said during the meeting.
But in an interview after the meeting, Rabonza said the government agencies are bound by accounting and financial rules and requirement set by the Commission on Audit involving government transactions like bidding and awarding of contracts.
"Considering the usual checks and balances, (the release and disbursement of funds) is fast," said Rabonza.
He said the implementation of the rehabilitation project is "on schedule" despite the delay in the release of funds.
"Except for the scientific researches which would take around five years, the rehabilitation projects will be completed by 2008," he said.
Two groups earlier scored the delay in the release of the bulk of rehabilitation funds intended for the areas affected by the oil spill.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), a nationwide fisherfolk organization, and the Iloilo-based Save Our Lives, S.O.S!-Panay and Guimaras coalition described the delay as "scandalous amid the suffering of thousands of residents reeling from the impact of the oil spill."
Guimaras officials have also been repeatedly calling for the release of the fund so that the programs and projects could take off.