P20-B Marawi rehab funds to be released in three tranches —Diokno

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Friday said the P20-billion rehabilitation fund for war-torn Marawi City will be released in three tranches until 2019.

In a statement, Diokno said that the Marawi rehab budget will be released following a multi-year scheme.

"The DBM (Department of Budget and Management) has allotted at least P5 billion for 2017, P10 billion for 2018, and an additional budget yet to be determined for 2019," he noted.

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the creation of Task Force Bangon Marawi to implement rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi City with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) expected to come up with a comprehensive “master plan” to map out these efforts.

The President earlier pledged to allocate P20 billion for the rehabilitation of Marawi.

"The budgets and funding sources for 2017 and 2018 have been identified prior to the creation of the DPWH 'master plan' in order to quickly respond to the needs of ongoing efforts and to accommodate the rehabilitation plan as soon as it is set up. The budget allocation for 2019 will be estimated based on the remaining needs of the plan," Diokno said.

"Funds could also be sourced from the respective budgets of different agencies such as DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), DPWH, and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Engineering Brigade, and foreign donor," he added.

The Cabinet official noted that China has already donated P15 million for the Marawi rehabilitation to boost the resources of the Department of Health (DOH) and DSWD.

"For the NDRRM (National Disaster Risk Reduction Management) Fund FY 2018, P25.5 billion has been allocated; P10 billion of that amount has been allotted for the Marawi Recovery and Rehabilitation program," Diokno said.

The Budget chief also emphasized that despite the ongoing conflict in Marawi, the performance of the Philippine economy will not be significantly affected nor will it warrant the creation of a supplemental budget to rehabilitate the area. —KG, GMA News