‘World Bank’s $500 million for Philippines missing since 2015’

MANILA,Philippines — Amid the series of earthquakes in Mindanao, a senior party-list lawmaker yesterday asked the government as well as the previous administration what happened to the $500 million equivalent to at least P2.5 billion – that the World Bank (WB) granted Manila as loan for calamities in 2015.

Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, a senior deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives, recalled that the WB loan was approved in December 2015, or during the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III.

“Given the widespread damage in Mindanao, it is proper for us in Congress to ask the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Finance (DOF) to fully account for the ‘Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Plan’ to the Philippines,” Herrera said.

The lawmaker is among the authors of House Bill 3214 that aims to create a Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

“The public must know how much is left of the $500 million, how the loan has been spent and whether that spending has been wise and in the public interest. It cannot be that only the technical staff are aware of what has happened to the $500 million,” she said.

While the Duterte administration, through Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, is applying for another $500-million WB loan, it would be best if the DOF “first report to Congress what they did with the 2015 loan,” according to Herrera.

“Policy loans usually run for several years. The public is entitled to know whether the WB credit line is still active. Filipinos should also be apprised on where these funds went, how they were spent and if there are still funds we could use for calamities,” she said.

“Now that Congress is creating the DDR, it is but necessary for the NEDA and DOF to account for this huge loan to share or turnover management of it with the DDR, which would be the rightful implementing agency,” she added.

Government financing institution Pag-IBIG, along with local banks in Mindanao, should exert effort to extend calamity loans to residents in key areas in the region that have been hit the hardest by the recent series of earthquakes.  – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Pia Lee-Brago, Lalaine Jimenea