Tupi town in South Cotabato will see a long-stalled road project move forward, with P122 million earmarked for concreting the stretch that links Barangays Acmonan and Kablon. The allocation, signed off on June 15, sits among the first tranche of national funding now reaching local governments in the wake of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Mindanao on June 8.
In total, the Department of Budget and Management has put out P362 million, money the agency describes as a starting figure rather than a ceiling. Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon framed the release as one step in a larger commitment. “The P362 million we released is only an initial assistance. The government continues to have sufficient and readily available funds to support ongoing relief, rehabilitation and recovery efforts in areas affected by the earthquake and other calamities,” he said.
The cash is being drawn from the Local Government Support Fund and routed straight to the local units handling repairs on the ground, an approach the DBM says is meant to keep recovery work moving without bureaucratic delay. Three areas were singled out as priorities: Sarangani, General Santos City, and South Cotabato, all among the places where the quake left the heaviest damage.
Sarangani received the largest single share at P140 million, disbursed on the same June 15 date as the South Cotabato release. That budget covers a spread of projects across two towns — multipurpose buildings, a local road, and a new bridge in Alabel, plus repairs to a hospital and another road in Glan.
General Santos City’s allocation came earlier, with P100 million directed toward fixing a multipurpose building in Barangay Dadiangas East.
Lawmakers have been pressing for the money to keep coming. Answering President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s call for legislators to resume work, the Senate passed a resolution asking the national government to lock in immediate rehabilitation funding for the devastated communities. Senate Resolution 447, filed by newly appointed Deputy Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, cited early estimates pegging the structural damage at P1.13 billion — a number officials expect to climb as field inspections wrap up.
Separately, House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos pushed back against assertions that certain localities had been left out of earthquake-related budget allocations.
Military and regulatory bodies have moved alongside the budget effort. The Philippine Army’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response teams have reached cut-off communities with aid while running search, rescue and retrieval operations in landslide-struck parts of Davao Occidental and Sarangani. The Insurance Commission, for its part, has ordered insurers to begin processing claims in the affected zones without delay.
