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Barangay Padang residents in Legazpi city, Albay, begin evacuating in preparation for Typhoon Rolly. This photo was taken on Saturday, October 31, 2020 (Photo by MARK ALVIC ESPLANA / Inquirer Southern Luzon)
MANILA, Philippines – The national government has P3,622 billion available to help those affected by super typhoon Rolly, budget secretary Wendel Avisado told President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday at a high-level briefing.
Advised explained that the money was the rest of the budget of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (NDRRMO), which originally amounted to a calamity fund of P16 billion and then increased with P5 billion under the Bayanihan to Recovery as One Act, or Bayanihan. 2.
Bayanihan 2 was intended as a stimulus fund for the country as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic.
Avisado noted that many people had been asking if the government had money to deal with the latest calamity.
Duterte praised him for being “transparent” in revealing how much of the calamity pool was left. It was important for people to know that there was money for them and that it would be used correctly.
He then expressed his confidence that people will understand that the government “stretches” its money, considering that it was also fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have been transparent, that’s good[…] as long as we spend it for the purpose it was intended to appropriate, ”Duterte added.
Super Typhoon Rolly, which struck the Bicol region and southern Luzon over the weekend, was not the first natural calamity to hit the Philippines recently. In late 2019, a series of earthquakes shook Mindanao. Then, on January 13, the Taal volcano erupted, affecting thousands of residents, farmland and tourist establishments.
In light of these events, some lawmakers questioned why the calamity fund had been slashed, noting that the Philippines had long been vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly typhoons and earthquakes due to being in the Pacific ring of fire.
Rolly is not the first destructive weather disturbance to hit the country, either. In October, Bicol and other parts of Luzon also suffered from the Tropical Depression of Ofel, followed shortly after by Tropical Storm Pepito which moved through Aurora and the rest of central Luzon.
Typhoon Quinta then swept through southern Luzon, hitting Bicol again, days before Rolly entered the Philippine area of responsibility.
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