President Rodrigo Duterte, in one of his late-night ramblings last June 2020, declared that there was no money left to fund relief programs to cushion the pandemic’s effects. “Wala na tayong pera,” the president said—a quote widely spun by his cohorts as a mere candid expression typical of him.
No amount of spin-doctoring now, however, can cover up the reality. As of September 30, 2020, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reported that the status of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management's fund—the country’s calamity funding—is now P5.9 trillion below the zero line. With a disaster fund that is yet to be replenished, the government’s pandemic response, for all its inadequacy and missed priorities, is in danger of being derailed altogether as the country moves into the seventh month of lockdown.
The end of this pandemic is nowhere in sight, as official government data record at least 2,000 new COVID-19 cases daily, including hundreds of deaths. This predicament prompted the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to recommend the extension of the state of calamity, which Duterte did by virtue of Proclamation 1021 in effect until September 12, 2021.
It bears stressing that, in legal parlance, a state of calamity grants the executive branch emergency powers supposedly for the people’s benefit, among which is the imposition of price freeze on basic commodities. This declaration also makes available the use of calamity funds. Unlike the case of the remaining calamity fund that has to go through the approval of NDRRMC and DBM, this funding is readily available at the president's nod. Only about P4.8-billion quick response funds were allocated at the onset of the pandemic.
Congress must then immediately supplement the country’s calamity fund. For one, it is not only the pandemic response that benefits from these funds. In 2020, the calamity allocation stood at P16 billion—down P4 billion from last year’s—where P3.5 billion went to Marawi rehabilitation and P5 billion for earthquake-related disasters.
In essence, only P7.5 billion is actually allocated for any other calamities which might happen for the duration of the year—nearly all of which have already been expended for the pandemic. As La Niña begins, the government may well actually expedite the approval of a supplemental calamity fund, on top of an additional budget for pandemic response.
Priorities for the disbursement of such funds must also be recalibrated. Nearly P100 million was siphoned off the calamity fund to augment the budget of the military, which, even before the pandemic, has constantly received a big chunk of the annual budget. This amount is twice the fund transferred to the Department of Science and Technology—just P53.2 million—to produce 1,300 COVID-19 test kits. “Wala na tayong pera” indeed for test kits, but plentiful for guns and ammunition.
The administration’s fiscal nourishment of state forces is no longer new. Since his term began, Duterte’s intelligence fund has had a 400-percent increase from the previous administration's. Worse, for next year, the dubious and largely unaccounted fund, is pegged at P4.5 billion—now up 700 percent from previous administrations.
It shows that, even during a pandemic, Duterte chooses to empower state forces, when most of what they did during the pandemic was to arrest citizens and government critics. His show of force—manifested by his abrupt lockdowns, ex-generals making the calls, and intensified police and military presence—reveals his populist leadership, breeding a militaristic response that has ultimately failed in curbing the virus.
Further treading the government’s failed plan is to deny recognition to the deaths that could have been avoided had the government imposed a more medically-apt response—far from Duterte's glorification of those who died as heroes. The president must remember that his strongman rhetoric may be able to sway voters and maintain his political base, but it would never heal sick people nor resurrect lost loved ones.
As Congress has less than two weeks left before it takes a month-long break, it must prioritize legislation that would provide sufficient allotment for calamity funds that would truly respond to the immediate needs of the public during this pandemic: providing financial aid to the most vulnerable and amping up the country’s test and tracing capacity.
The need for a wise spending of the calamity funds is urgent as the world’s longest lockdown stretches further on. The least that the government could do is to make sure that the money is spent on services that truly alleviate the people’s suffering amid these trying times. Merely filling the country’s emergency funds without a change in its plans to quell the virus is simply an extension of the country’s failed militaristic response.
Things could have turned out differently, had the government been prudent enough to put the needs of the people first. Clamoring for an ample allocation for the calamity fund is one thing, but just as important is ensuring that each centavo does not fall prey to corruption, that money is spent where it is rightfully due. ●
This article was first published on October 6, 2020.
