First district Board Member Gil Acosta withdrew his support to the approved resolution a portion of Palawan ’s calamity fund as aid to the municipalities affected by El Niño.
In his privilege speech during the Provincial Board’s regular session June 1, Acosta said that the release of some percent from the funds would largely reduce the budget which would be more needed during the rainy season, which was already approaching.
The resolution authorized Gov. Joel Reyes to utilize P49 million as El Niño aid to some municipalities from the P63-million calamity fund of the province. It was unanimously approved by all board members, including Acosta, last March. However, as of this writing, the resolution was still not signed by the governor.
Acosta explained that the Provincial Board could still do something to stop the release of the fund since it was still within their bounds.
“We’re only in the middle of the year and if we still release the P49 million, only P14 million would be left as our calamity fund,” Acosta said.
“We have to prepare more for the floods or other destructions which might result from the rainy season,” he added.
Acosta also pointed that they could not just allow the governor to use the P49 million without seeing the report of the provincial agriculturist and the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council on the extent of the effect of dry spell in some areas in Palawan .
Last year, Acosta also withdrew his support from a resolution which allowed the provincial government to loan P500 million from a government bank to fund for pending projects in the province.
The resolution was earlier approved unanimously by the Provincial Board.
Bard Members Ernesto Llacuna and Leoncio Ola were with Acosta in withdrawing support from the resolution.
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