Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon said he doubted the government’s ability to finish the rehabilitation of Marawi City in southern Mindanao by the end of next year, as only P5 billion was allocated for it.
“We seriously doubt the sufficiency of the funds to fund the rehabilitation of Marawi,” he said.
“From our own research, the damage is about P70 billion. We have only allocated P3.5 billion this year and P5 billion next year. We have only been relying on donations and ODAs (official development assistance) to fund the rehabilitation,” Drilon said.
Housing Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario earlier said the government intends to finish the rehabilitation of Marawi by December 2021, Drilon noted.
It was revealed during the Senate budget deliberation that at least P60 billion is needed for the rehabilitation of Marawi but only over P11 billion has been released.
For 2021, only P5 billion was allotted for Marawi rehabilitation.
“The rehabilitation fund is grossly insufficient. Our countrymen there have been suffering for the last two years. From the reports that we received, they are really complaining about the very slow rehabilitation that is being undertaken. Indeed, that is confirmed now by the meager budget for next year,” Drilon said.
“We are still talking about a P48 billion balance out of a budget of P60 billion to rehabilitate Marawi. Would the current and the budget next year be enough to complete the rehabilitation by December 2021 as publicly committed by officials in charge of Marawi?” he emphasized.
Drilon said he hopes the Senate will accelerate a bit the funding of the rehabilitation, to which Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Sonny Angara agreed.
“We hope that in the period of amendments, the sponsor can consider an addition to the Marawi rehabilitation,” Drilon said.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
No comments:
Post a Comment