Palace says funds for typhoon rehab enough

Malacañang on Saturday reassured the public the government has enough standby funds for rehabilitating facilities damaged by recent typhoons. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte made the reassurance even as an administration senator suggested that “savings" from recent underspending go to rehabilitation work. “As of the moment we have enough standby funds at the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help those affected by typhoons," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. Several parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila, are still reeling from the effects of Typhoon Pedring (Nesat) earlier this week. At least 50 people were reported killed while more than two million have been affected and nearly P6 billion in property damaged due to Pedring. Earlier on Saturday, another typhoon – Quiel (Nalgae) – made landfall over Isabela and is expected to pass through northern Luzon and enhance the southwest monsoon thereafter. On the other hand, Valte declined to comment on a suggestion by administration Sen. Ralph Recto to use “savings" from recent underspending for rehabilitation work. “I am not aware of how the funds will be specifically allocated," she said. Recto, in a news release Friday, said government could use the devastation brought by Pedring and ensuing tropical cyclones to correct its underspending. Recto said Malacañang could immediately access its unspent public funds in this year’s budget to bankroll rehabilitation of areas affected by Pedring and by the buffet of new typhoons that is expected to hit the country before yearend. He noted that government has barely touched its infrastructure outlays for the year, disbursing only P64.5 billion from January to July, which is 141 percent lower or P91.5 billion short of the P156 billion actually spent in the same seven-month period last year. Also, he noted the government continues to contract spending in January to August, after having disbursed P947.244 billion for the entire bureaucracy compared to the P1.031 trillion expenditures it registered in the same eight-month period in 2010. — LBG, GMA News