The vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations on Friday appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to spend over P83 billion in unused funds for typhoon victims before their validity expires at the start of 2021.
Assistant Majority Leader and Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas said the DSWD should work overtime to help Filipinos affected by the succession of typhoons which hit the country in recent weeks.
“The DSWD should go all out and spend up to the very last cent of its funds to ease the poor’s suffering, especially as this challenging year draws to a close,” Vargas, the panel’s vice chairman, said.
Vargas said DSWD’s assistance will go a long way to help Filipinos who lost their homes and livelihood due to Typhoons Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“DSWD cannot let its unused funds simply expire at a time when many Filipinos need help. It should work double time to extend assistance to typhoon victims so they can start anew,” he said.
It was revealed during the Senate’s plenary debates on the proposed 2021 national budget this week that DSWD has P75 billion of unused funds from its 2020 appropriation. Also, P1.5 billion of the agency’s 2019 budget remains unused, apart from the P6.7 billion in unobligated funds from the two “Bayanihan” laws passed by Congress to address the COVID-19 crisis.
Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed around 835,399 families or over 3.5 million people in Luzon were affected by Typhoon Ulysses alone. The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, said the three typhoons which hit the country between October and early November caused P10 billion worth of damage to agriculture.
Meanwhile, the European Union and the governments of Sweden, Australia, United States, Germany, and New Zealand mobilized P182 million ($3.8 million) to aid about 260,000 Filipinos that have been severely affected by recent typhoons .
The Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO) has announced P74.5 million (US$1.54 million) aid. The Australian government has provided P33 million (US$0.7 million) through the World Food Program (WFP), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP). Sweden is providing P67.6 million ($1.4 million) through Save the Children, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and Plan International. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of Germany have coursed their assistance totaling P7.2 million ($150,000) through existing projects with the UN Agency on Migration (IOM). Many governments are donating to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, including the government of New Zealand that is providing a contribution of P7.2 million (US$150,000) through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“With support from resource partners, the UN and humanitarian community translate international solidarity into concrete actions that combine emergency relief assistance and early recovery efforts to help people get back on their feet,” said UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez.
The European Union has committed to spend €1.05 million or roughly P60 million in humanitarian aid to fund the delivery of emergency relief assistance to families affected by devastation of typhoon Ulysses.
“The EU is scaling up its humanitarian assistance in the Philippines in response to the devastating typhoons that have hit the country over the past month,” said Arlynn Aquino, who oversees the EU’s humanitarian response in the Philippines.
“The additional contribution will help to get much-needed aid to the most vulnerable people to help them go through this difficult time,” she added.
Typhoon Ulysses was the latest in a series of destructive typhoons to hit large parts of the Philippines’ most populous island of Luzon, including Metro Manila, in recent weeks.
Ulysses hit the country while it is still reeling from the devastating impact of super typhoon “Rolly”, which struck in early November. It has so far affected more than 3 million people, with more than 440,000 already forced to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere, including in evacuation centers.
The EU aid will support humanitarian aid partners who are already on the ground to respond to the immediate needs of those affected communities. This includes shelter, food, health care and access to clean water, safe sanitation and good hygiene, as well as other vital aid.
The funding is part of the EU’s Acute Large Emergency Response Tool (ALERT), which is used to respond to large natural disasters where over 100,000 people or over 50 percent of the population are affected. Depending on the type of disaster, it is intended to allocate funds within 24 to 48 hours of the onset of the emergency.
The number of families affected by Typhoon Ulysses has climbed to 891,457 in eight Luzon regions as of Friday.
In its latest update, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the number is equivalent to 3,672,521 persons in 6,169 barangays in Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, 5, National Capital Region (NCR) and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
This is slightly higher than the 835,599 families or 3,512,784 persons reported on Thursday.
The death toll from the typhoon is still at 73, with 19 people missing.
Damage to agriculture is placed at P4.2 billion recorded in Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, 5, CAR and the NCR.
Damage to infrastructure is now pegged at more than P6 billion in Regions 1, 2, 3, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, 5, CAR and the NCR.
There are 67,391 houses damaged, with 6,164 destroyed. With PNA