Research group IBON said that despite the country being disaster-prone, the administration has instead decreased calamity funds in the 2020 national budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON noted that in the recently passed 2020 national budget, the Duterte administration only allocated Php16 billion for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Fund or Calamity Fund. This is a Php4-billion decline from the Php20 billion in 2019. Quick reaction funds were only slightly increased to Php6.8 billion from Php6.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration has previously\nslashed much-needed calamity funds, said the group. The NDRRMC budget was cut\nby more than half (Php23 billion) to just Php15.8 billion in 2017 from Php38.9\nbillion in 2016 under the Aquino administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said that the country is\nnow confronted with the displacement and damages caused by the eruption of Taal\nvolcano. The latest NDRRMC report said that this is affecting 40,752 persons in\nBatangas and Cavite and has so far resulted in almost Php75 million worth of\nagriculture damage. There are 38,203 people in 198 evacuation centers or about\n120 per center. Around 300,000 people are expected to be displaced by a possible\nbigger hazardous eruption of the volcano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said that\ngovernment\u2019s preparation and response to disasters remained poor. Government\nunits and affected communities appeared unprepared for the Taal volcano\neruption. There has been a lack of transportation to quickly evacuate\nresidents, and a lack of adequate and permanent evacuation centers. Centers are\nmainly public schools, although a cockpit arena was opened up to house\nevacuees. Another indication of government unpreparedness was the Department of\nthe Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. A\u00f1o\u2019s recent appeal for donations\nwhich has drawn a lot of flak on social media and highlighted the inadequacy of\ncalamity funds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the government is\ndecreasing the calamity fund, it is increasing the 2020 budget for oppressive\nand self-serving expenses, said the group. For instance, around Php9.3 billion\nwent to confidential and intelligence funds, which are widely suspected to be\nused in attacks against the poor and the administration’s perceived critics and\nopponents. These are funds better spent on the public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration\u2019s budget\npriorities disregard the country\u2019s longstanding vulnerability to disasters,\nsaid IBON. The Philippines is ranked ninth among all countries with the highest\ndisaster risk in the World Risk Report 2019. It is located within the Pacific\nRing of Fire where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. An average of\ntwenty tropical cyclones also enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility per\nyear, with 8 or 9 making landfall. Meanwhile, the Global Facility for Disaster\nReduction and Recovery (GFDRR) reports that 74% of the country\u2019s population is\nvulnerable to natural disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019 alone, the country\nexperienced prolonged drought due to El Ni\u00f1o, six strong earthquakes (ranging\nfrom 6.1 to 6.9 magnitude) and 21 tropical cyclones. The 6.9-magnitude\nearthquake in Matanao, Davao del Sur affected over 394,000 persons in 218\nbarangays and resulted in 13 dead and 210 injured. Typhoons Tisoy and Ursula were\nthe most destructive typhoons in 2019 resulting in 4 dead, 318 injured and Php5.9\nbillion-worth of damages; and 57 dead, 369 injured and Php3.5 billion-worth of\ndamages, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IBON said that the government\nshould release more funds not just for disaster response but for recovery and\nrehabilitation. These can come from lump-sum funds. In the long-term, government\ncan invest in building genuinely sustainable communities, said the group.\nIBON’s People Economics proposals for instance cite enabling the people to\ncollectively withstand extreme hazards through steady jobs and income, sturdy\nhomes and disaster-ready community infrastructure, and sufficient public and\nsocial services that are designed and established to endure calamities. ###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEWS<\/p>\n
Despite the country being disaster-prone, the administration has instead decreased calamity funds in the 2020 national budget.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,14],"tags":[2086,2137,1317,713,347,116,2047],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8928,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924\/revisions\/8928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}