Saving for the rainy days: Government now has saved up PhP 1.75 billion to be used to address people's needs during calamities, something which had been sorely missing in the previous administration, local goverment officials and typhoon victims said. BUCK PAGO/AKP Images

The diversion of calamity funds into the pockets of public officials rather than helping the victims of natural disasters is surely one of the most heinous kinds of corruption anywhere and a record of how poorly a government cares or is able to look after its most vulnerable citizens.

In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month, President Benigno Aquino III revealed that the PhP 2 billion (USD 44.4 million) calamity fund for 2010 had already been nearly all spent.

The use of about PhP 1.4 billion (USD 31.1 million), or 70 percent, of the calamity fund in the first six months could not be justified given there was no major disaster during the period, Aquino said.

The newly-elected president alleged that PhP 180 million (USD 4 million) of the calamity fund was spent in Pampanga, the home province of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during the height of this year’s election campaign. Moreover, he claimed, most of it went on the second district, for which Mrs. Arroyo now serves as congresswoman.

Budget officials from the Arroyo administration argue that the 2010 calamity fund was used for rehabilitation of areas devastated by tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng, which struck the country in September and October of last year.

However, budget officials of the Aquino administration said the calamity fund for 2009 should have met these needs given the time-scale.

In an interview with the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) early this month, new Budget Secretary Florencio Abad substantiated the report made by President Aquino during the SONA. Citing data from his department, Abad said PhP 105 million (USD 2.3 million) of the PhP 108-million fund (USD 2.4 million) allotted for Pampanga was spent by the previous administration for the second district.

"If they [Arroyo administration] claim to have used the money to rebuild Pampanga, why did they spend most of the PhP 108 million for District 2?” Abad asked, noting that the areas in Pampanga devastated the most by Pepeng were Districts 3 and 4.

Abad said former President Arroyo should be well aware of how the calamity fund was used, noting that under budget rules, the calamity fund along with other special funds are only disbursed upon approval of the President.

He said the calamity fund is spent for emergency projects and programs implemented by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), but that these agencies may not be given the money and may not disburse it for any project or program without the go ahead from the President.

The Arroyo administration has so far refused to comment on the accusations made by the Aquino administration. The PPTRP tried to contact Rolando Andaya, budget secretary of the Arroyo administration, but failed get his comments.

Budget Undersecretary Laura Pascua, who also served during the Arroyo administration in the same capacity, begged off when asked for an interview.

Pasig City: zero financial assistance from the national government

Pasig City Mayor Bobby Eusebio raised more questions about how much of the 2010 calamity fund may have been misappropriated when he said that his city -- one of the hardest hit by Ondoy -- did not receive as much as a single centavo of financial aid from the national government to fund rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts.

According to the local government, estimated losses from the storms in Pasig City stand at PhP 500 million (USD 11 million).

About 40 percent of the land area of Pasig was submerged in water, while an estimated 60 percent of its 660,000 population were victimized by the disaster.

"Sa totoo lang, wala akong matandaan (Honestly, I cannot recall any)," Eusebio said in an interview with PPTRP early this month, replying to question of whether Pasig City got any emergency financial support from the national government.

Eusebio said what he could recall was the extension of manpower support, such as from the police, the Army and the Navy, for rescue efforts at the height of the disaster.

Despite the absence of monetary assistance, Eusebio said his officials did not bother to complain. "We did not want to think that we were the only ones that needed help from the national government," he said.

However, Eusebio did say that the national government, particularly the DPWH, failed to finish a dike which could have prevented the severe flooding of the city.

The dike, the completion of which was estimated to cost PhP 1.5 billion (USD 33.3 million), was meant to shield Pasig from the waters of the Pasig River in times of typhoons. Eusebio said it was supposed to have been finished eight years ago, according to the project calendar.

"They (DPWH officials) left it unfinished, saying there were no sufficient funds to complete it yet," Eusebio said.

Without getting any share from the national government's calamity fund, Eusebio said, Pasig City funded all its rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts on its own.

He said the local government spent hundreds of millions for de-clogging (of drainage systems) operations, establishment of evacuation centers, purchase of rubber boats and fire boats, extension of the unfinished dike, training of local government personnel on emergency response, rehabilitation of school damaged buildings, and replacement of public schoolchildren's books that were washed away by floods.

It was fortunate Pasig City had the resources it had, Eusebio told the PPTRP.

Nonetheless, financial aid from the national government could have been very useful. While the local government could afford some rebuilding efforts, it did not have funds to provide financial assistance for all Pasig City residents who were victimized by Ondoy.

A victim's tale

Cristina (not her real name), a mother of three and a resident of Pasig City, said she and her family did not receive any financial assistance from either the local or national government in the wake of Ondoy.

"Ondoy damaged our entire house. All our appliances, clothes, and everything that my family had earned and saved for the past 10 years were submerged in water. We had to relocate temporarily to a house offered by a good Samaritan," Cristina said in a separate interview with us early this month.

"There was so much talk about billions of pesos in aid, but personally I did not feel it," she said. Nonetheless, Cristina acknowledged the effort of the local government to clean up the mess left by Ondoy.

"The government did its job of bringing down the water level in our area. It also cleaned up the debris in the streets," she said.

Cristina added that the disaster left her and her family traumatized. She now feels scared whenever she hears news of a typhoon about to hit the Philippines.

"The threat of new floods is always on the horizon. I am very worried because we are staying in the same place in Pasig City. It is not easy to look for or move to another place," she said.

Arroyo administration's 'disrespect' for the budget process

Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno claimed the "misuse" of the calamity fund showed the gravity of corruption during the Arroyo administration.

He maintained that no similar instances were seen during the terms of President Arroyo's predecessors.

"There were no such abuses in the use of the calamity fund under Presidents (Corazon) Aquino, (Fidel) Ramos and (Joseph) Estrada. They were guided by common sense and respect for the budget process," Diokno said.

"The calamity fund is for victims of calamities. It's not to be used for political purposes." In her nine-and-a-half-year reign, Arroyo showed no respect for the formal budget rules, he said.

Diokno, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, said there shouldn't be too complicated rules to follow to avoid misuse of the calamity fund or any other special funds. What should be done is to simply require the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to publish details of disbursement of such funds on its website.

"Posting the budget releases is enough (to address corruption). Transparency, transparency, transparency is what is needed. It's when a President chooses to operate in the dark that all the abuses in the use of public funds occur," Diokno said.

The new budget chief agrees. Secretary Abad said that under the Aquino administration, the Cabinet would strive to observe and promote transparency.

Abad said the public will have access to information about transactions, such as purchases, entered into by the government.

The budget chief also said the public must do its role of helping get rid of corruption by reporting any anomalies they know of.

In one of his press conferences early this month, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the Department of Finance (DoF) would launch a website where the public may post any complaints or reports of irregularities and corruption.

"Everybody should play a role in fighting corruption," Purisima said.

The website has since been launched.

Moving on

Meanwhile, Mayor Eusebio said that following all the rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts of the local government and the training of its personnel disaster mitigation, Pasig City is now more prepared to handle calamities.

Severe flooding will no longer be experienced, he promised, following all de-clogging works for the city's drainage systems, the extension of the dike, and other repairs done.

The city mayor also said the local government has already more equipment and resources for emergencies, including rubber boats, fire boats, and personnel knowledgeable of properly handing emergency situations.

"Pasig will no longer experience the same kind of destruction," he promised.

On the part of the national government, the budget secretary Abad said the calamity fund has been recently beefed up. Government agencies that did not use all their budget for the first half were asked to contribute their savings to augment the calamity fund.

Abad said the DBM has gathered PhP 1.75 billion (USD 39 million) in savings, or unused funds supposedly for the first semester, and the money is now part of the calamity fund.

"Thanks to the savings, now we have a relatively comfortable amount of money to use when the rainy day comes," Abad said. Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project