NEA sets P200M for ‘corona’ response

May 3, 2020 01:00 AM By Gabbie Parlade
https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/05/03/nea-sets-p200m-for-corona-response/

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) on Saturday announced that it redirected P295 million from its programs for the national government’s use to fight the new coronavirus pandemic.

NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said the budget was supposedly for the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF) Act and for a quick response system for some electric cooperatives.

The ECERF or Republic Act (RA) 1039 aims to provide continuous financial assistance to electric cooperatives through immediate rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure due to force majeure.

RA 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, however, allows the President to allocate funds intended to still unfinished projects for the country’s national response against COVID-19.

“Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, direct the discontinuance of appropriated programs, activities or projects of any agency in the Executive department, including government-owned and controlled corporations, under the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Act, whether released or unreleased, the allotments for which remain unobligated,” the law stated.

Masongsong said that the Department of Budget and Management has recommended these programs to be temporarily halted while the pandemic persists.

The NEA also decided to discontinue 10 percent, or about P10.9 million of the total budget intended for the electrification of some resettlement sites.

On 6 April, the NEA remitted P1.35 billion to the national government.