Recto wants P15-B standby fund for Marawi rehab

                       Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Sunday urged lawmakers to provide Malacañang a standby fund of P15 billion which it could use for the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.

                      This would be on top of the P10-billion that is already in the P3.767-trilion national budget bill. He said the additional P15 billion could be included in the unprogrammed appropriations portion of the budget bill.

                      Recto said parking the P15 billion in the unprogrammed appropriations would cancel the need for Congress to pass a supplemental budget in the event that the P10-billion is not enough, or has been fully spent before the end of next year.

                      Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said “at least P50-billion” would be needed to rebuild Marawi.

                     Recto pointed out that under budget laws, amounts authorized under unprogrammed appropriations could only be released when tax and non-tax revenues exceed collection goal, or if loans for a particular activity are secured.

                   Nevertheless, the senator said these two triggers would be satisfied as there is a high interest from donors of official development aid (ODA).

                  “And our economic managers are gung-ho in meeting revenue targets,” Recto said.

                 “Thus, in anticipation of any of these, what Congress can do is provide the spending authority in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), which the executive branch can later use,” he stressed.

                The unprogrammed fund, which is pegged at P75.34-billion for 2018, Recto said “is a regular, important, but not so prominent feature of the budget. It is the hidden big ticket item.”

               For next year, P5 billion for AFP modernization is charged to this fund, and so is P18.9-billion in “support for infrastructure and social programs.”

               According to Recto, the biggest item in the unprogrammed appropriations is for the so-called “risk management,” of which P30-billion is authorized to cover maturing obligations and other government commitments under various Public Private Partnership projects.

              “Marawi is both a source of light and enlightenment. Thus any aid package should be viewed within that context. To a large extent, the aid we will be giving is some sort of a payback,” Recto said.