Several senators are heading to Mindanao to deliver assistance to communities devastated by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, as calls grow in the Senate for a P15-billion recovery fund to support relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian said on Wednesday that he and several members of the majority bloc would travel to Mindanao on June 11 to bring aid to victims of the powerful earthquake that struck parts of the region last Monday.
Sen. Gatchalian said senators Erwin Tulfo, Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri and Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito would join him in distributing assistance, including the majority bloc’s one-month salary, rice and food packs solicited from friends.
The visit comes as lawmakers and the Executive continue discussions on whether Congress needs to hold special sessions during its sine die adjournment from June 6 to July 26 to tackle possible supplemental funding for Mindanao’s recovery and other urgent concerns.
“Yan ang hinihintay namin sa Executive, kasi to be honest about it, sunod-sunod yung issues na tumama sa ating bansa. Unang-una yung high oil prices, pangalawa yung parating na super El Niño at pangatlo itong earthquake,” Sen. Gatchalian said in a virtual press conference.
“That’s what we are waiting for from the Executive because, to be honest about it, the country has been hit by successive issues: rising oil prices, the expected super El Niño and now the earthquake in Mindanao,” he said.
Sen. Gatchalian said the government has around P180 billion in available funds that may be tapped to cushion the impact of both man-made and natural calamities.
He said this includes P17.8 billion under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund and P32 billion in local government support funds, which may be used for the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure. Other available funds, he said, may be allocated for social services.
Sen. Gatchalian said lawmakers would wait for the assessment of the Office of Civil Defense to determine how much additional funding would be needed for reconstruction and recovery.
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Pangilinan filed Senate Bill 2259, which seeks a P15-billion supplemental appropriation to support relief, rehabilitation, recovery, repair and reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the earthquake.
The proposed fund would cover affected areas in the Davao and Soccsksargen regions and is intended to ensure the swift delivery of assistance to communities hit by the disaster.
Under the bill, the P15-billion supplemental appropriation for fiscal year 2026 would be sourced from available funds in the National Treasury that have not been otherwise appropriated.
Pangilinan said the fund would augment the current budget of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as the government responds to the scale of damage left by the earthquake.