President Aquino assured the nation yesterday that the government was ready to do rehabilitation work and provide relief assistance to the victims of typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” as some P8 billion in calamity funds were on standby and could be utilized for affected areas.
Aquino visited the flood-ravaged provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan, riding an Army truck in the town of Calumpit, to personally assess the damage from the two typhoons.
Unlike in the past when calamity funds were depleted early on, the President said that the P8-billion existing calamity funds were carried over from 2010 to 2011.
He said there had been releases for Leyte-Samar area, Bicol and Caraga early in the year, but the government still has P8 billion to utilize.
Speaking at a briefing of the Regional Development Council (RDC) at the Hiyas Convention Center here, the President said the list of “must do” damaged infrastructure facilities in Region 3 amounting to P323.5 million could be immediately addressed by the government.
He said he was still waiting for the complete assessment of the extent of damage caused by Pedring and Quiel as it was expected to exceed that of “Ondoy” in 2009.
He also justified the government’s reason not to declare a national state of calamity and that the incoming typhoon “Ramon” had dissipated based on reports.
The President also confronted the issues against him for allegedly being absent during the time of the disaster and for his government’s slow response to the people’s needs.
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