Sunday, January 21, 2007 2007 budget to help improve RP’s disaster preparedness
* Funds for purchase, installation of 2 doppler radars to monitor typhoons included in outlay
* Disparity in benefits of retired cops to be resolved in budget
SENATOR Franklin Drilon said when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signs the proposed P1.126 trillion budget for 2007, the Philippines will be equipped with a more modern radar system that will be able to predict the volume of rainfall in typhoons that visit the country.
The proposed 2007 budget bill, according to Drilon, included an appropriation of P200 million that would allow the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical And Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) to update its radar systems as part of the government’s disaster preparedness infrastructure.
Drilon said the funds for the purchase of two Doppler Radars could be the answer to criticisms that Pagasa and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) failed to provide sufficient warnings to Bicol residents who were devastated by Super Typhoon “Reming” and ensuing mudflow from Mayon Volcano last November.
Drilon noted that Pagasa’s equipment can predict the wind speed during a typhoon but it does not have the capability to predict the amount of rains that the typhoon would dump in an affected area.
According to Drilon, the two Doppler Radars, reportedly worth P74 million each, can be deployed to the Bicol Region that is frequently battered by typhoons that hit the Philippines each year. Earlier, Pagasa recommended the installation of Doppler Radars in Mindanao.
“The radars will certainly help in the country’s disaster preparedness infrastructure,” Drilon said.
Another P11 million had also been appropriated for the construction of buildings that will house the radars, he added.
Drilon recalled that the government’s disaster preparedness agencies came under fire for allegedly failing to predict the amount of rainfall spawned by Typhoon Reming that triggered a mudslide in Albay province, killing hundreds of persons.
Phivolcs deputy director Bartolome Bautista said Phivolcs should not be blamed for the deaths, noting that they issued advance warning to local government officials about the impending disaster. He said it was complacency and lack of awareness among the people that killed hundreds in Albay.
Drilon said Pagasa intended to purchase a total of 10 Doppler Radars to complete the update of the country’s disaster preparedness program by year 2010 starting with the purchase of two radars this year.
Meanwhile, Drilon also said with the P160 million for the pension of retired policemen incorporated in the national budget for this year, the former policemen can now claim more judicious retirement benefits.
He said the national budget will provide for the pension benefits of retirees belonging to the defunct Integrated National Police (INP), particularly to members of the Manila’s Finest Brotherhood of the Western Police District.
The benefits, Drilon added, will be at par with that being received by the retirees of the PNP.
“The new budget for this year addresses the glaring disparity between the rates of pension being received by the INP as compared with that of he retirees of the PNP. It is only fair that we provide for equal benefits to those who performed the same nature of work,” Drilon said.
During the budget deliberations on the 2007 budget, Senator Alfredo Lim, a retired police general pushed for the inclusion in the national budget of a pension fund that will finally address the protracted clamor of INP retirees to receive the same rate of pension as that of PNP retirees.
The gap between the pension of INP and PNP retirees widened when the effort to professionalize the police service necessitated the upgrading of the benefits received by PNP personnel in terms of pay and allowances as well as other additional allowances, Drilon said.
A comparison of the amount of pension showed that an INP retiree with a rank of corporal receives a monthly pension of P3,225 as against a PNP retiree with a corresponding rank of Senior Police Officer 3 who receives P11,310 monthly pension, or a difference of P8,085.
An INP brigadier general at retirement receives P10,054 as monthly pension as compared to a matching rank of chief superintendent in the PNP who receives P18,088 or a difference of P8,033.
“For a very long time now, the INP retirees were left at a very disadvantageous situation. We hope to provide the retired police force some form of upliftment in their lives, amidst the economic hardships we are going through,” Drilon said.
On June 3, 2002, the INP retirees field a civil case against the Department of Budget and Management (DBP), PNP, the Civil Service Commission and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The case was decided in favor of the INP retirees on March 21, 2003. At present, the case has been elevated to the Supreme Court (SC) for review. The payment of the claims of INP retirees shall be subject to the decision of the Supreme Court (SC). (CPB/Sunnex)
