25 February 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—THE BICOL REgion will get a total of P5 billion in rehabilitation funds, the lion’s share of a P6.7 billion package to be divided among 11 disaster-stricken regions, as soon as President Macapagal-Arroyo signs the 2007 general appropriations bill.
From the total P8-billion special budget granted under the general appropriations bill approved in the bicameral conference, P1.3 billion will be released as emergency and calamity fund of the National Disaster Coordinating Council while the P6.7 billion will be used to implement the Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Efforts (Care) program of the government.
Bernardo Alejandro IV, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol, said half of the P5 billion allotted to Bicol will go to Albay, the hardest-hit province.
Camarines Sur comes second to Albay and will get 27.8 percent; Sorsogon, 11 percent; Masbate, 4.5 percent; Camarines Norte, 4 percent; and Catanduanes, 2.8 percent.
Small slice
Albay Gov. Fernando Gonzalez said the P2.5 billion to be released directly to concerned agencies for the rehabilitation of Albay is smaller compared to the P6-billion rehabilitation fund it originally requested, but with it, he said, “many things can be done already for the province to move forward.”
He said the rehabilitation projects will be implemented by the different government agencies but it is the provincial government that will identify what these projects will be.
In Albay, Gonzalez said, the priority components of the rehabilitation plan would be: infrastructure, social welfare, agriculture, and power restoration.
The Department of Energy, during the NDCC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, reported that electricity had been restored in all municipalities in Bicol.
However, the DOE said 10 percent or 552 of the villages remain without electricity.
He said there was an immediate need for the Department of Public Works and Highways to fast-track the repair or reconstruction of flood control facilities, such as dikes, destroyed by the storms that hit Albay late last year.
Orlando Roces, DPWH-Bicol regional director, said the agency planned to spend P550 million for the repair and reconstruction of flood control structures.
New paths
He said it was important to redefine the pathways of water since lahar created new river channels and enlarged existing ones.
He added that the DPWH would prioritize the repair or construction of flood control structures in residential areas near river systems.
One of the main and biggest river systems here is the Yawa river system that stretches from Mt. Mayon to the Albay gulf by up to more than 7 km.
A total of P629 million will be spent by the DPWH for flood control, P156 million for damaged or destroyed national bridges, P158 million for national roads and P56 million for other infrastructure. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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