THERE'S a joke that says, “If a politician fell into a river, that would be a misfortune. But if someone fished him out again, that would be a calamity.”
This joke was attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, perhaps apocryphal, referring to a political opponent.
But the Commission on Audit (COA) has uncovered that Cebu City has underutilized its calamity funds. And this is no joke.
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COA said Cebu City underutilized its funds for Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management (LDRRM) amounting to P178 million from 2011 to 2015 due to poor planning, a Freeman report said.
The report said that in 2011, the city used only P69 million of its P104 million funds, only P66 million out of P105 million in 2012 and only P99 million out of P114 million in 2013.
The city used only P14 million out of P38 million in 2014 and did not use the P66 million funds in 2015.
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COA and other disaster mitigation agencies should set clear guidelines on how local governments use the calamity funds.
Perhaps only a few calamities hit the city from 2011 to 2015 and were keeping the funds to be used when calamities strike.
Well, the Cebu City Government granted P20,000 calamity aid to its officials and workers after the 2013 earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda. But that proved calamitous to officials who granted it because they later got suspended.
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COA said the city’s failure to “optimally” utilize the calamity fund for disaster preparedness programs lessened the city’s capabilities and deprived residents of resources in times of disasters.
COA said the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office can use the fund to strengthen its capabilities to respond to disasters by providing responders with the proper equipment.
So there’s no need for a calamity to strike first before the city can use its calamity funds.