‘Budget deadlock to stall relief, rehab programs for Bicol, Samar’

Two senators renewed their calls yesterday for the immediate passage of the 2007 budget, saying further delays in its approval would derail the rehabilitation and relief programs for the typhoon-ravaged Bicol region, Samar, Marinduque and Mindoro.

Senators Joker Arroyo and Ralph Recto stressed the need for members of the bicameral conference committee to once and for all end the deadlock over the P1.126-trillion national budget.

Arroyo, who hails from the Bicol region, was concerned that the impasse on the budget would affect the rehabilitation of six provinces in Bicol, three provinces in Samar, some areas in Mindoro, and Marinduque.

"The P10 billion supplemental budget for the rehabilitation and relief program for the Bicol region’s six provinces, Samar’s three provinces, Marinduque, and portions of Mindoro because of the enormous damage wrought by typhoon ‘Reming’, which was conceived and readied before the Christmas adjournment will be pushed through when the 13th Congress resumes its last session before the elections," Arroyo said.

"In fact, the budgetary aspect had been finalized before Christmas by the Executive as conveyed by Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya. Unfortunately, it was waylaid by the Christmas adjournment," he added.

Arroyo lamented that it "is becoming a habit of Congress not to pass the budget on time."

In calling for a compromise between the two chambers, Arroyo said that "Congresses all over the world work in the art of compromise because what we are talking about is for the greater welfare of the people."

Recto shares the concern that Bicol will be greatly affected by the budget stalemate. "Without appropriation, there will be no rehabilitation," Recto said in a statement.

Recto said the situation in Bicol, which was ravaged by three powerful typhoons last year, is a "strong argument" for a new budget.

Recto said the money for Bicol’s rehabilitation would come in the form of a P10-billion outlay which Malacañang had requested to be inserted in this year’s national budget.

Fund releases that can be "eked out" of the "now twice reenacted 2005 budget" are limited, Recto explained. "What is needed is specific appropriation for the big task of bringing Bicol back on its feet."

He said if no new budget is approved, the executive and the legislative should start working on a "supplemental budget for the rehabilitation of areas hit by typhoons Milenyo, Paeng, Reming, Senyang."

"I hope that the House and the Senate can hammer out a new budget. Three natural calamities hit Bicol last year. The fourth one will be a man-made one and that would be the failure of Congress to pass a new budget," he said.

Disaster officials pegged the damage wrought by the three typhoons at P50 billion. — With Paolo Romero