An aerial view of destroyed houses on a collapsed mountain side along the coastline in the village of Pilar, Abuyog town, Leyte province on April 14, 2022 day after a landslide struck the area due to heavy rains at the height of tropical Storm Megi. Bobbie Alota, AFP
MANILA — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) assured the public on Thursday that the government has enough funds to respond to calamities this year as more typhoons are expected to hit the Philippines in the coming months.
"To date, mayroon pa tayong sapat na pondo. 'Di pa naman masyadong nabawasan 'yung calamity fund. Kalagitnaan [pa] lang ng taon," DBM Sec. Tina Canda said at the Laging Handa briefing.
(To date, we have enough funds. The calamity fund for the year has only been slightly used up. And we're only halfway through the year.)
She did not provide the exact amount left for the calamity fund, but said that the contingent fund that will augment the calamity fund is still at P6.8 billion.
The contingent fund is released after the approval of the President, she said.
State weather bureau PAGASA says that on average, around 20 tropical cyclones enter the Philippine area of responsibility per year, with about 8 or 9 of them crossing the country.
The peak of the typhoon season is July to October, when nearly 70 percent of all typhoons develop, according to PAGASA.
Last month, PAGASA declared the start of the rainy season and advised that intermittent rains associated with the southwest monsoon or "Habagat" would start to affect Metro Manila and western sections of the country.
Agaton, the first major storm to have hit the country this year, has left 175 dead and millions worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture.
Laging Handa, PAGASA, calamity fund, contingent fund, DBM, Department of Budget and Management, Laging Handa briefing,