Marcos admin seeks 51% calamity fund increase

Following recent calamities, including Typhoon Carina, which caused over P3 billion in agricultural damage alone, the Marcos administration increased its calamity fund request to P31 billion—51 percent higher than this year’s allocation of P20.5 billion.

Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr., the vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, disclosed on Sunday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sought a disaster budget increase under the 2025 national budget to further intensify the government’s effort amid the looming extreme weather events caused by the worsening effect of climate change.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), which constructs the national budget in accordance with the President’s request, defines a calamity fund as a lump sum fund appropriated under the General Appropriations Act to cover aid, relief, and rehabilitation services to communities or areas affected by man-made and natural calamities. This includes repairing and reconstructing permanent structures, including capital expenditures for pre-disaster operations, rehabilitation, and other related activities.

Prior to Typhoon Carina, which battered Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon in late July this year, the DBM said in April that P4.99 billion was released from the P20.5 billion calamity fund under the 2024 budget, leaving P15.507 billion balance.

According to Campos, the panel, tasked to scrutinize the annual budget, is in support of Marcos’ request to augment next year’s calamity fund to boost the government’s immediate response and enhance relief efforts.

“We are all for enlarging the fund to enable agencies to deliver highly improved emergency aid, relief and rehabilitation services to disaster victims,” Campos averred.

Of the proposed P31 billion calamity fund, Campos said P14.7 billion would be for capital outlays, mainly for the reconstruction of damaged permanent structures such as roads, bridges, and school buildings.

Roughly P7.7 billion, meanwhile, would go to the quick response fund of eight frontline departments, while P1 billion would be allocated to the People’s Survival Fund (PSF), which aims to enhance community resilience and sustainability.

“The PSF is a special fund that provides subsidy to climate change adaptation and natural disaster resilience strategies, including, for example, the installation of practical rainwater collectors,” said Campos, urging barangays and nongovernmental organizations to avail such funds so that they can put up functional rainwater harvesting systems in their communities.

“We all have to get used to stockpiling rainwater during the wet season so that everybody can have access to extra freshwater supplies during dry conditions,” Campos said.

The PSF was established through Republic Act 10174, or the Climate Change Act of 2009, to provide long-term financing to local government units and accredited community organizations for climate change adaptation programs and instrumental in bolstering the country's adaptive capacities, ensuring sustainable development, and protecting vulnerable communities from the adverse impacts of climate change.

Last week, DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman announced the agency approved the release of P579.312 million notice of cash allocation to the Department of Finance Bureau of the Treasury, which will finance development grants, five full-scale projects, and extra support for two ongoing projects spread across the country, particularly in Northern and Eastern Samar, Mountain Province, Bukidnon, Isabela, Quezon, Province of Sarangani, and Agusan del Norte.