Senate Committee on Finance is open to adjusting the P30-billion calamity fund in the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023 to make next year’s budget more responsive to future disasters and calamities.
Committee chairman Senator Sonny Angara disclosed the Senate’s plan as the country continues to struggle to recover from the devastation brought about by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng last weekend.
The Senate, he said, is open to review and readjust the amount should there be a need to strengthen the country’s disaster response programs even more.
“The calamity fund budget is roughly P30-billion which is larger than in past years,” Angara said in a statement on Wednesday, November 2.
“Given the increased frequency and magnitude of recent typhoons, this is appropriate. Certainly the committee will always be open to changes which may help our people during these difficult times and which will improve the government’s response to these calamities,” the senator said.
Angara said he plans to file the committee report on the 2023 General Appropriations Bill Tuesday, November 8 and sponsor it in the Senate’s plenary session in the afternoon.
Senators are expected to hold marathon deliberations on the proposed 2023 general appropriations bill next week as they aim to pass it before the end of November.
Earlier, Senate President Juan Miguel “MIgz” Zubiri said the 2023 national budget will definitely have to be “reconsidered, reviewed and adjusted” in response not only to the damage brought by Paeng, but also in response to the recent earthquake in Abra.
“We need to fix our fragmented disaster management efforts and adopt a whole-of-government approach going forward,” Zubiri said.
The House of Representatives has transmitted the copies of the Lower House’s version of the 2023 GAB to the Senate last October 24.
Last September, President Marcos Jr. certified the 2023 GAB as urgent “in order to address the need to maintain continuous government operations following the end of the current fiscal year, strengthen efforts to respond more effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic, and support initiatives towards national economic recovery.”