The People’s Survival Fund (PSF) Board, under the leadership of its chair Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, approved PHP 539 million-worth of new climate adaptation projects.
The People’s Survival Fund (PSF) was established under Republic Act No. 10174 to finance adaptation programs and projects of local government units (LGUs) and accredited local and community organizations.
The newly-approved projects will be implemented in the climate vulnerable areas of Mountain Province, City of Borongan, and Municipalities of Maramag, Cabagan, and Catanauan.
These projects include:
Installation of drainage and early warning systems and the development of the agroforestry industry in Maramag, Bukidnon worth PHP 126.40 million;
Irrigation project in Cabagan, Isabela involving the construction of 3 solar powered irrigation systems worth PHP 21.28 million;
Mangrove rehabilitation project in Catanauan, Quezon worth PHP 2.63 million;
Installation of embankment infrastructure and reforestation for enhanced flood control of Lo-om River in Borongan City, Eastern Samar worth PHP 118 million; and
Climate field school for farmers in Mountain Province worth PHP 271.15 million.
In deciding which projects to approve, the PSF Board considers the level of risk and vulnerability to climate change, participation of affected communities in the design of the project, poverty reduction potential, cost effectiveness and attainability of the proposal, identification of potential co-benefits extending beyond LGU territory, maximization of multi-sectoral or cross-sectoral benefits, responsiveness to gender-differentiated vulnerabilities, and availability of climate change adaptation action plan.
The PSF has an initial capitalization of PHP 1 billion to aid LGUs and accredited local/community organizations in implementing climate change adaptation projects. To date, PHP 887.63 million of the PHP 1 billion has been allocated to eleven (11) projects and six (6) Project Development Grants, leaving only a balance of PHP 110.36 million in the PSF.
“I commend the Board and its members for its efforts to expedite the approval of the new projects, allowing us to fully utilize the disbursement of one billion pesos allocated to the PSF. For our part, the DOF shall continue to address the delays in the current system by improving processing time and providing sufficient resources to assist our proponents,” Secretary Diokno said, affirming his commitment to improving fund utilization to support more projects.
Upon taking up the role of PSF Secretariat in 2017, the DOF initiated measures to expedite fund utilization and streamline the project proposal process. This has resulted in the formulation of a Financing Agreement template––a crucial document that facilitates the transfer of funds to the recipients.
On top of this, the DOF collaborated with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to design a fund transfer flow mechanism and swiftly acted on pending projects in tandem with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
The process was further streamlined in March 2023 which resulted in the receipt and processing of a record-breaking 180 project proposals.
Moving forward, Secretary Diokno emphasized the need for closer collaboration between the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and other member agencies in order to efficiently identify and address bottlenecks in the system.
The fund is managed by a multi-sectoral PSF Board, which is composed of the Secretary of the DOF as Chair, the Vice Chairperson of the CCC, the Secretary of the DBM, the Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), representatives from the academe and scientific community, the business sector, and the non-government organization sector.