MANILA -- The country will need an additional P500 million funds in preparation for the aftermath of impending typhoons this rainy season.
Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman said the P500 million left from the P2 billion calamity funds allocated in 2010 will not be enough in covering all disaster operations when numerous typhoons strike this year.
“We need to raise it (funds) from P500 million to P1 billion,” she said.
Soliman however noted that what she gave was only a rough estimate, stressing that the funds will still depend on how strong the typhoons will be and how large the damage each typhoon will cause.
“If it is going to affect only one province, you only need little amount of money but if it going to be like Ondoy, we will need huge sum of money,” she said, referring to the typhoon that made a major damage in Metro Manila last year.
“Let just pray that no major disaster happens until the end of 2010,” she hoped.
Soliman is meeting with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to source out supplemental funds for the operations of disaster risk management.
“We will be looking at pockets that are still full,” she said.
She meanwhile expressed confidence that the country could still get extra fund from the international groups should the need arise. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)