WV leaders urge release of 'Paglaum' fund now
Western Visayas officials have called on the national government to find and release funds for repair and rehabilitation projects in areas ravaged by last year's typhoon “Frank”, warning of the possibility of another disaster when the rainy season sets in.
Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Raul Banias said the release of the P8-billion “Paglaum (Hope) Fund” remains unsure more than eight months after the typhoon triggered the region's worst flooding.
Banias, executive director of Task Force Bangon Panay, said the delay in the release of funds has put on hold much needed repairs and replacement of vital infrastructure projects and the dredging of heavily silted creeks, rivers and other waterways.
The heavily silted rivers could overflow and trigger flash floods similar to last year, he said.
“We are worried that a big disaster would happen when the rain comes,” Banias said in a speech at a regional summit on sustainable development.
He said the release of the funds have been put on hold because the sourcing of the funds has been pegged to the passing of the Simplified Net Income Tax Scheme (SNITS) bill pending in Congress.
Banias said the passage of the SNITS, expected to raise P9 billion, will be implemented in 2010 at the earliest because there is not enough time to enact the bill before the April 15 deadline in the filing of income taxes.
“If the rehabilitation fund will be sourced from revenues from SNITS, then it would be too late,” Banias said in an interview.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said creeks and rivers in the city have not been rehabilitated and are mostly silted.
“Lives and properties could be lost or damaged if the floods would recur,” said Treñas whose house and other properties were destroyed and damaged when the typhoon struck on June 21 last year.
The House has passed House Bill 4824 which allocates P8 billion to finance the reconstruction and the rehabilitation of the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras and Negros Occidental, and the cities of Iloilo and Bacolod which suffered heavy damages after the typhoon triggered the worst flooding in the region in recent years.
The proposed fund amounted to P15 billion but this was slashed to P8 billion because of the unavailability of funds and due to the global economic crisis.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council had reported that at least 342 persons died during the typhoon in the Western Visayas region alone. At least 886 were injured.
The flooding affected around 2,545 villages and 417,399 families or 2,094,105 persons. At least 50,571 houses were destroyed and another 101,080 others damaged.
Damage to property reach around P14 billion.
Banias said that in a meeting with Executive Eduardo Ermita last week, they have urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to find emergency funds to start work on repair and construction of bridges, flood control projects and dredging of rivers and creeks.
He said they hoped funds could be release soon because the summer season would be ideal for infrastructure projects.
Banias said they have requested the release of at least P460 million to start repair of two vital bridges in Iloilo and the dredging of Aklan and Libacao Rivers and creeks in Iloilo.
If funds are available, the Western Visayas leaders are also pushing for the release of P1.8 billion to start work on eight destroyed bridges and 26 damaged others, said Banias.
Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. said in a separate interview that rehabilitation funds should be released soon before the election period nears because these could be misused.