BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved an ordinance appropriating some P2 million from the city’s disaster risk reduction and management fund as cash assistance to the local government units affected by the earthquakes in Batanes and Mindanao.
The ordinance authored by all members of the city legislative body stated that some P1.5 million will be given to the local governments affected by the earthquakes in Mindanao while some P500,000 will be given to the local governments affected by the earthquakes in Batanes.
The funds for the financial assistance to the earthquake-stricken areas will come from the 30 percent Quick Response Fund of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund which has not yet been allocated as per advise of City Accountant Antonio Tabin.
The ordinance authorized Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong to identify the local governments in Mindanao that will be the recipients of the financial assistance from the city and the mode of delivery of the same to the identified beneficiaries.
On July 27, 2019, earthquakes having a magnitude of 5.4 and 5.9 struck Itbayat, Batanes where 8 people reportedly died, dozens injured and hundreds of houses and structures were reportedly heavily damaged, aside from reported collapsed thick stone walls and cracking paved roads.
On October 9, 2019, another magnitude 4 earthquake struck Sabtang, Batanes but no casualties were reported while minimal damage to property was reported.
On October 31, 2019, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Tulunan, North Cotabato that also shook central and eastern Mindanao, two days after an earlier magnitude 6.6 tremor rocked the same area killing at least eighteen people and inflicting injuries to hundreds of others aside from inflicting heavy damages to public and private properties.
The first earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 occurred last October 16, 2019 with its epicentre near Tulunan, North Cotabato that resulted to the death of 7 people and injuring more than 200 others.
The ordinance noted that due to the severity caused by the earthquakes to Batanes and Mindanao local governments, it is but the duty of concerned local governments as the nation to come together and pool in their available resources to help the people in the earthquake-stricken areas as a gesture of giving back since Baguio City was similarly devastated during the July 16, 19990 killer earthquake and assistance from different city governments came in to the city.
Under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, local governments are mandated to allocate at least 5 percent of their annual budget for disaster risk reduction and mitigation wherein 70 percent of the same will be earmarked for preparedness and mitigation while 30 percent will be segregated as quick response fund.
Tabin informed city legislators that the financial assistance to the concerned local governments should not come from the 70 percent earmarked for preparedness and mitigation because the same had already been programmed unlike the 30 percent quick response fund which had not been allocated. By Dexter A. See