Recto: P7.5-B calamity fund not enough, new 'DAP' needed

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday called for the creation of new "DAP" funds that could be used for specific projects in 2014.

But Recto was not referring to the widely criticized Disbursement Acceleration Program introduced in 2011 to pump-prime the economy. Instead, his proposed DAP funds will be used for relief and rebuilding efforts in areas devastated by disasters.

"There's certainly a need for bigger DAP - or Disaster Aid Projects - funds," Recto said. "This is the kind of DAP that we need."

Recto lamented that in the past 30 days alone, the country faced a rebel standoff in Zamboanga City that affected over 10,000 homes, a typhoon that left P3.2 billion in damages, and most recently, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that has killed over a hundred people so far.

The senator said the proposed P7.5 billion calamity fund in the 2014 national budget might not be enough for the reconstruction efforts in the affected areas of a "country which seems to be hit recently by every tragedy in the catalogue of calamities."

"If we count the help which owners of burned houses in Zamboanga, or Santi-hit farmers in Pampanga, or small Bol-anon businessmen whose stores were destroyed will be needing, the total bill is way above the resources at hand," Recto said.

Recto said Malacañang and Congress should start tweaking the proposed 2014 budget to create space for calamity relief efforts and study the option of earmarking funds for the affected areas.

He added that the impact of disasters should not be ignored in crafting the national budget.

"We can increase the Calamity Fund, or create a fund in the DPWH dedicated exclusively for disaster relief, or even introduce a section in the Unprogrammed Fund which would qualify disaster relief as among the activities which can be funded by excess revenues, new loans or savings," Recto said.

Recto also suggested that the dismantled pork barrel of lawmakers can be even rechanneled to disaster relief work.