MANILA – Lawmakers from the Batangas province on Wednesday filed a measure appropriating PHP30 billion as a supplemental budget to aid the victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.
Batangas Reps. Vilma-Santos Recto (6th district), Elenita Milagros Ermita-Buhain (1st district), Raneo Abu (2nd district), Theresa Collantes (3rd district), Lianda Bolilia (4th District), and Mario Mariño (5th district) filed House Bill No. 5998, which seeks to appropriate PHP30 billion to augment the aid, relief, resettlement, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and livelihood programs and projects for the victims.
The proposed amount shall be sourced from the National Treasury as supplemental appropriations for the 2020 national budget. It shall be made available until Dec. 31, 2022.
The Batangas lawmakers said the proposed additional funding shall be used to “establish resettlement centers, homesites, and townsites for displaced families; provide livelihood and employment opportunities for local residents; construct, repair, rehabilitate, or reconstruct public infrastructure needed in the communities; and adopt and implement other interventions that could expedite the return to normalcy in affected localities.”
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier requested Congress to pass a PHP30-billion supplemental budget to build more evacuation centers in Southern Tagalog provinces devastated by the eruption of Taal Volcano.
Duterte said the additional funding will be used to augment the nearly “depleted” calamity funds at the local level.
The House of Representatives held its out-of-town plenary session on Wednesday at the Batangas City Convention Center in light of the Taal Volcano eruption.
During the session, the chamber adopted a resolution expressing its support and commitment to work with all the concerned agencies to pass the supplemental budget to expedite the effective and responsive assistance to those affected by the eruption. (PNA)
