Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked the government on Friday to immediately release the P1-billion People’s Survival Fund (PSF) as local government units (LGUs) continued to cope up with the recent disaster brought about by Bagyong Lando.
Sen. Escudero, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, lamented that many LGUs remained unaware that they could access the PSF to boost their long-term mitigation and adaptation programs on climate change.
The PSF is a special fund created by virtue of Republic Act 10124 or An Act Establishing the People’s Survival Fund to Provide Long-Term Finance Streams to Enable the Government to Effectively Address the Problem of Climate Change.
Although there will be at least P1 billion for the PSF annually, as of June 30, Sen. Escudero revealed that there have been no release from the P1-billion PSF for 2015 and any portion of the fund that is unused will not revert to the national treasury.