A mid the rising number of summer fire incidents, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allocated P8 billion to build additional fire stations and purchase new fire trucks for prompt emergency response.
Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said a budget raise for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is part of the priorities of the national government in the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to increase security, protection and safety of the population.
He said that the budget is aimed to assist the BFP to meet its goal of limiting fire incidents to one per 10,000 population and casualties to one per 200,000 population for the coming year.
“Because of this, the BFP received a total budget of P8 billion to support firefighting and emergency response activities, and this will be complemented by the construction of 110 fire stations and the purchase of 116 fire trucks,” Abad said in a statement released over the weekend.
The government has declared March as Fire Prevention Month, but fire incidents have been on the rise in the last two weeks. These include the huge fire in Parola compound in Tondo, which displaced 10,000 people.
Meanwhile, the DBM has also allocated increased budget for both the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
He said the DBM has allocated P73.63 billion to the PNP to help the police force achieve its 2015 targets of limiting crime incidence to 37.11 percent and meeting a crime-solution efficiency rating of 29.99 percent.
“To support their efforts, the PNP was given a budget of P70.8 billion in the 2015 GAA, with an additional budget of P2.83 billion in the 2014 Supplemental Budget for the PNP Operational Transformational Plan that would upgrade their equipment,” Abad said.
The DBM, meanwhile, allocated P125.8 billion to the AFP, along with the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and the AFP General Headquarters, so that the military can effectively protect the sovereignty of the country.
The funds include a P95.8-billion allocation from the 2015 GAA and a budget of P20.0 billion from the allotment of the AFP General Headquarters, as well as P10.0 billion from the 2015 unprogrammed funds.