BECAUSE of the series of typhoons that hit the country this year, the Senate and House contingents agreed to allocate around P23 billion in the final version of the 2021 national budget.
According to Chairman of the House committee on appropriations Rep. Eric Go Yap, the funds will be used to rehabilitate the provinces ravaged by Typhoons Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses.
Yap said priority for the rehabilitation are provinces in the Bicol Region and Cagayan, which was hit by massive flooding.
“Tinitignan namin unang-una yung mga hindi implementable, yung mga least na kailangan at kasama sa list natin mga provinces like Cagayan, tulad ng iba pa sa Bicol, sa Albay, doon namin nilagay yung mga infra, mga roads, mga kailangan nila,” Yap said.
Yap added that some unimplementable projects that were realigned include some of the infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works an Highways (DPWH).
Meanwhile, in a related issue, Yap pointed out that equal distribution of infrastructure allocations to different congressional districts is not feasible.
“‘Yung uneven allocations, na-address siya. May ibang mga tumaas pero hindi natin kayang gawin even eh na lahat sila pantay-pantay,” Yap said.
“Malabo talaga ipantay-pantay ang mga district dahil may malaking districts, may maliit, mayroong iba-ibang terrain. Sa Albay, may ginagawa po tayong expressway dito, normal po na tataas. Katulad sa Benguet, mayroon pong nagko-collapse na kalsada even without typhoon ha, without calamity nagko-collapse ‘yun dahil mountainous ‘yung lugar na ‘yun,” he said.
Earlier, Senator Panfilo Lacson disclosed that allies of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco were given bigger infrastructure budgets while those of solons close to former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano suffered cuts.
