DSWD has P714-M disaster quick response fund for 2014

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has a disaster quick response fund worth P714 million for 2014.

The P714-million allotment for this year is higher than the P652.5 million last year.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman brushed off concerns that last year’s string of calamities could be the “new normal” and hence the need for a bigger quick response fund.

“That is only the initial amount. When it’s used up and has been liquidated, we can replenish,” Soliman said.

The DSWD’s quick response fund for 2013 was already used up by July, and had started running low as early as April.

The DSWD had made a request for additional funding to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in April.

A big portion of the P652.5 million was used up by the DSWD’s disaster relief operations for victims of Typhoon Pablo, which caused massive destruction in Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, and Davao City in December 2012.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto called on the DBM to disclose the performance of the different government agencies based on the targets they set under the 2014 national budget.

Recto said that these “promissory notes” that the government agencies submitted to the DBM with their proposed budgets were something new in the General Appropriations Act as a way to show the people how their taxes are being spent.

He argued that this particular feature of the national budget was even more significant than the scrapping of the Special Allotment Release Order as a fund release document, which was recently announced by the DBM.

Under the 2014 national budget, Recto noted that there would be a matching of countable outputs with every peso received by the different agencies.

“Spending is now linked to performance benchmarks. The peso sign now comes with a performance guarantee. And these guarantees are part and parcel of the budget,” Recto said.

Recto urged the DBM to ensure that agencies comply with their promises. 

For instance, Recto noted that the Bureau of Fire Protection has vowed to respond to distress calls within seven minutes 87 percent of the time this year.

In the case of the Philippine National Police, it has promised to pursue with earnest the minimum 629,258 crime investigations it will conduct this year and to increase by 25 percent its number of foot and mobile patrols.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has pledged to have all vehicles moving at an average of 29 kilometers per hour on the 197 kilometers of major thoroughfares under its jurisdiction.  â€“ With Marvin Sy