Econ managers urging for national state of calamity

The country’s economic managers are recommending that President Rodrigo Duterte declare a nationwide state of calamity to access additional funds for rehabilitating areas damaged by Supertyphoon Ompong.

They plan to tap a $500-million credit line from the World Bank to boost rehabilitation efforts.

“Should the President declare a State of Calamity, we will be able to access a $500-million loan from the World Bank at very, very favorable terms and interest rates,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters in a press briefing in Manila.

“So we have recommended that the NDRRMC (National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council) recommend that proposal,” Dominguez noted.

Initial estimates by the Department of Agriculture (DA) placed farm damage from Ompong at P14.27 billion as of Monday, September 17.

Dominguez said the government is still assessing the full extent of damage.

The World Bank approved the $500-million credit line for the Philippines in 2015 to manage risks posed by natural disasters. 

While awaiting the full report on the extent of damage from Ompong, Dominguez said there may be some infrastructure projects under the Build, Build, Build program that were destroyed.

“Certain amount of infra has been damaged and very tragically, some lives have been lost. We don’t have the total picture yet at the moment. We don’t have a complete report yet,” he said.

“I’m sure there are road projects and bridge projects that are affected by this typhoon. We’re waiting for the report on the dam whose construction was started in the Cagayan Valley,” Dominguez noted.

The government plans to spend over P8 trillion on its Build, Build, Build program until 2022, largely funded by tax revenue.

This year alone, the Philippines plans to roll out more than 70 big-ticket projects, cumulatively valued at $35.5 billion or P1.1 trillion.

An increase in the project costs may be absorbed under the terms of references.

“If the costs go up due to the damage, we can certainly handle the additional costs,” Dominguez said. —BM/VDS, GMA News