Ping to be limited to coordination – Chiz

MANILA, Philippines - Rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson will not be able to tap into the P143.5-billion rehabilitation and reconstruction fund that Congress has made available for the executive department to resurrect the areas that Yolanda and recent typhoons had devastated.

Senate finance committee chairman Francis Escudero said the approved P12 billion to be added to the pooled funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction will be provided for the use of “implementing agencies.”

“I don’t know what the mandate of Senator Lacson would be and I don’t know what role he will play, but the budget we passed is through the implementing agencies. There are the line departments,” he said

“Senator Lacson or the office that will be created is not an implementing agency, (his role is) coordinative, so it’s the agencies who will use these funds, bid it out or implemented themselves.” 

Congress passed on Tuesday night the joint resolution seeking to extend by one year or until Dec. 31, 2014  the validity of the unobligated and unreleased funds under the 2013 budget.

According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad the amount translates to P12 billion, on top of the P14.5 billion sourced from the congressional pork barrel that was also tapped for calamity use, Escudero said.

Speaking to reporters, Lacson said the government will need the support of big corporations to undertake rehabilitation work.

“We’re reaching out to the top private corporations here because they all have corporate social responsibility,” he said. “They have funds and that (funds) is privately managed.”

Lacson said it will be difficult to just rely on government funds as their release will take time.

The P41 billion that the Cabinet estimates is needed for rehabilitation is not enough, he added.

Lacson said work has already started on the preparation of a framework for the rehabilitation of Yolanda-devastated areas.

“We need to fix the structural design of buildings,” he said.

“Re-zoning will also be done because all the houses there are along the coast lines.”

Lacson said he is coordinating with the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to secure the land titles in the areas that Yolanda has devastated.

“The LRA has started to computerize,” he said “Hopefully, those damaged in Yolanda have been computerized.”

Escudero said he is not privy to the details of the executive order naming Lacson the rehabilitation czar, but that President Aquino may delegate his power over the calamity and rehabilitation funds to government agencies.

“He can, there’s no prohibition,” he said.

“These funds are QRF, that is delegated to a secretary. The calamity fund, it’s the President, but once he realigns it to fund the QRF of an agency, that is delegated to the agencies.”  QRF refers to the Quick Response Funds.

Escudero  welcomed Lacson’s appointment.

“The President needs all the help he can get,” he said.

“The problem is so big and Sen. Lacson can greatly help in whatever capacity.” 

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the joint resolution allows  Aquino to augment the calamity fund from the unused items in the 2013 budget, principally on the maintenance and operations portions.

“My view is that the Constitution says the President and heads of the constitutional bodies... it must be exercised by the President as a matter of more conservative approach so that it cannot be questioned,” he said.

“In other words, I take a conservative position, the President cannot delegate the power to realign items in the budget. The President cannot delegate the power to augment an item in the budget. Because that is the power lodged in the President as an elected official.”

6 lawmakers vote vs bill

Six representatives of  party-list groups voted on Tuesday night against a bill seeking to appropriate P14.6 billion more to the calamity fund for typhoon victims.

 Bill 3423 was approved overwhelmingly at the House of Representatives with a vote of 213 in favor  and only six against.

The vote was taken shortly after the roll call  to which 229 of the 289 members responded.

Those who voted against the bill were Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela, Antonio Tinio of Alliance of Concerned Teachers, and Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis.

They said their votes against the bill did not mean that they did not want the allocation of additional funds for typhoon victims.

They were concerned that the proposed allocation might be struck down as unconstitutional like the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), since it was a lump sum and the needed funds would come from the unused PDAF, they added.

They wanted the P14.6 billion to be itemized.

Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, appropriations committee chairman and sponsor of Bill 3423, said it was not possible to itemize it since the allocation of specific amounts for typhoon-affected areas would be based on rehabilitation plans that the concerned agencies will   draw up.

He said the bill would augment the calamity fund,  a lump sum in the national budget and which the Supreme Court has not declared as unconstitutional. – With Louella   Desiderio, Jess Diaz, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rhodina Villanueva, Artemio Dumlao