In Sibulan, Negros Oriental residents ask PNoy: release calamity fund

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Thousands of residents in Sibulan town have signed a petition requesting President Benigno Aquino III to release the other half of the calamity fund intended for Negros Oriental.

Sibulan Councilor Gil Genaro Concepcion said the residents-from Brgys. Magatas, Tubtubon, Looc, Poblacion, Calabnugan and Ajong, as well as in nearby towns, living along the banks of Okoy River-issued the petition to have the funds released to complete the flood control projects in the area.

These residents, who were badly hit by typhoon Sendong in the past, said they feared for their lives every time the river swells due to strong rains. "They could not sleep soundly for fear of flashflood," said Concepcion.

Concepcion, while thanking the national government for releasing the first half of the calamity fund, which was part of the P200 million allotted for river control project in the town. This fund was used by Governor Roel Degamo in the construction of dikes along Okoy River, as initiated by former Liga ng mga Barangays president, Ceferino Gravador, former village chief of Looc in Sibulan.

The release of the other half of the fund was however held in abeyance due to alleged interventions from other agencies, prompting the residents to make a petition to Aquino, through the office of the governor, said Concepcion. "If something happens to lives and properties in Sibulan due to flashfloods, they will blame it to people who had caused the stoppage of the project," he added.

Degamo, for his part, said it was public knowledge that unseen hands tried to withhold the release of the other half of the calamity fund, so he could not move to implement the projects, the purpose of which is to save lives and properties.

After Sendong, came typhoon Pablo, but the dikes built at the time were able to prevent somehow the swelling of the river, so it is now imperative to finish the river control projects, said the governor.

Degamo lashed back at his detractors for continuously finding faults in his administration, resulting in the issuance of the so-called negative Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) by the Department of Budget and Management.

The negative SARO was used by the Commission on Audit in rebuking the governor for going ahead with the project and considered it illegal, he said, even if his administration followed the long process in getting the fund, in coordination with the Office of Civil Defense and the DPWH, before it got the approval of Malacañang.

Provincial legal officer Richard Inojo added that the release of the negative SARO had no factual or legal basis in the absence of any order from Malacañang, the source of the money, to take back the already approved calamity fund.

Inojo said the negative SARO was received by COA only later after the tedious bidding process for the project was completed and awarded, and that works were already started.

Provincial administrator Arnel Francisco also said the issuance of the negative SARO was in itself flawed because the provincial government was already in physical and material possession of the money. "If the DBM was really bent on taking back the first half of the calamity fund, the order should have been directed to the bank to stop the order of payment where the amount was deposited in the name of the provincial government," Francisco said.  (FREEMAN)