Tackling the war chest

iddle By Reyshimar Arguelles

In the aftermath of supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013, the public demanded from the Aquino administration an accounting of the money that went towards relief and recovery programs. In 2017, the Marawi siege also initiated calls for transparency over the Duterte administration’s plan to rehabilitate the city.

And now, we have the CoViD-19 pandemic, an unprecedented scenario entailing the largest crisis intervention effort in the country’s history. This administration has earmarked at least P275 billion in emergency funding which would go towards saving people from an ensuing economic fallout and procuring the needed equipment to fight the virus.

Crises of this magnitude require large resources that governments need to secure. Especially when you are living in a country that’s right smack in the Pacific Ring of Fire, you can’t make do with a budget that’s simply not enough to help us get through a serious calamity like an earthquake or a typhoon.

Yolanda could have come off as a stress test on how the government, whoever is at the helm, should respond to devastating crises. Then again, it goes beyond anything humane that people’s survival will always depend on how resources are allocated and how leaderships show competence in handling situations where every wasted second entails a loss of life.

Nevertheless, the current government had slashed the Nation Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council’s budget by P4 billion in spite of the increased activity of Taal Volcano in January, displacing thousands of people in Batangas, Cavite, and nearby provinces.

Added to this is the continuing presence of global insurgency groups that have set up a foothold in the south. In the aftermath of the Marawi siege, the Department of Budget and Management earmarked P5.1 billion for the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Program. In a December report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer pointed out that only P871.1 million of the total allocation was released. Because of this, the National Economic and Development Authority saw a sharp increase in the poverty rate of the Bangsamoro region.

This month, the DBM announced that it has approved a budget amounting to P3.56 billion for Task Force Bangon Marawi. This is to fast-track whatever projects the implementing agencies have in store for the city’s residents, many of whom are living in temporary shelters — for three years! Indeed, it took them that long to release much-needed funding that could have added an extra layer of protection against another, more sinister threat.

A pandemic is a different story, but we may as well view it not as a stress test, but as an actual crisis where every decision is crucial. With more than P275 billion in its war chest, the government comes off as fully prepared to confront CoViD-19.

But is it really a question of resources? Does having a large war chest lead to a proper response?

With the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the government aims to provide an accurate accounting of the funds it has released. The DBM has also prepared a breakdown of the funding, taking cues from the mistakes that the past administration committed in its response to the disastrous effects of supertyphoon Yolanda. After all, taxpayers and donors would want to know whether their hard-earned money ends up saving lives and letting the country safely transition to the new normal.

Then again, it is hard to ascertain if the government is indeed making important strides in handling such a massive war chest. Anomalies in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program, the alleged overpricing of personal protective equipment, and the government’s incoherent policy communications are making it difficult to fully determine the extent of its efforts in controlling the situation.

Nothing can prepare any government for a health crisis such as this. And to think that we already have a large budget does not guarantee the country’s recovery. After all, what’s the use of having massive resources when the very people handling them lack a clear direction?

It’s times like these when we would rather have a system that looks at a crisis not as a bureaucratic challenge, but as a dangerous situation where people’s lives are at stake.