MANILA, Philippines — Leaders of the House of Representatives are coordinating with Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to refine the measure that seeks a P30-billion supplemental budget for the rehabilitation of areas devastated by the Taal Volcano eruption.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said the group led by Majority Leader Martin Romualdez has been tasked to fine-tune House Bill 5998 that the six lawmakers of Batangas filed and which President Duterte is expected to certify as urgent.
“They are in touch with Secretary Avisado… because we will be needing a certification since it’s a supplemental budget and funds have to be available,” Cayetano told reporters in a chance interview in Batangas City Wednesday.
Also in Romualdez’s group are Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, Deputy Speakers LRay Villafuerte and Loren Legarda and Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez of Leyte, who sits as chair of the committee on disaster management.
The historic plenary session held at the Batangas City Convention Center became the venue where the House listened to the concerns and sentiments of affected residents and evacuees, and where local government officials also aired their hardships and grievances.
“Governor Hermilando Mandanas sought our help and made some suggestions about a special provision (in the bill) because not everything involves money. I told him that they are most welcome (and) we will make our decision on what we will include in the special provision,” Cayetano said.
Gomez gave assurance that lawmakers would use all their power and mandate to ensure the recovery of affected communities.
“We are the House of the people. May our presence today, full force as you can all see, be a firm and gentle reminder that we are here for you, we empathize with you… We feel your hardships and worries,” the lawmaker said in an interview.
Gomez said her panel would expedite measures supporting rehabilitation of cities and towns affected by the eruption.
“We will work with relevant government agencies as well as other urban planning experts to ensure that the rehabilitation plan will be disaster-resilient and sustainable,” she said.
TERRA Commission
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the ways and means committee, also filed House Bill 5977 to raise and allocate P100 billion for the proposed Taal Eruption Recovery Rehabilitation and Adaptation (TERRA) Commission that will serve as the primary agency for relief and rehabilitation efforts.
“There is a need to build back better forward, and this requires landscape and social planning of a scale never before seen in the region affected by Taal. The national unity that the crisis has awakened is an opportunity to unlock the region’s potential to realize the greater economic growth driver that it could have been for the country if it were more carefully and more intelligently planned,” he explained.
Salceda said his measure aims to develop a long-term socioeconomic reconstruction program for communities most directly impacted by Taal’s activity, embedding adaptation in infrastructure and social investments.
“The (TERRA) plan shall be based on the principle of building back better forward which should go beyond restoring the area to its former state or condition but instead use this opportunity to leapfrog area development given its proximity to Metro Manila, the seat of economic power,” he stressed.