June 2, 2000, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Erap pours more funds for military, by Donna S. Cueto and Cynthia D. Balana,

PRESIDENT Estrada yesterday approved the supplemental budget sought by the Department of National Defense (DND) to finance the war in Mindanao even as Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno admitted that the conflict was getting costly. Diokno said the President also approved the release of the long-delayed first tranche of the Armed Forces' Modernization Project worth P5.5 billion. This amount will be used to purchase new military equipment.

Diokno said the President's instruction was to give full support to the DND. Asked about the amount of the supplemental budget to the DND, Diokno said: "I'm not at liberty to tell you. It's like telling the enemy how much we're spending." But military and defense officials asked Congress last month for an additional P1.4 billion to bankroll the war against Moro rebels.

The combined budget of the DND and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for this year is P90 billion, of which at least P70 billion is earmarked for operational expenses. Diokno also would not say how much the defense department had already spent.

But Rep. Ernesto Herrera disclosed that the government was spending anywhere from P23 million to P94 million a day in the war against the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf, which are both seeking an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

The high cost of war and the worsening peace and order situation have prompted international donors to suspend their funding of development projects in Mindanao, according to Herrera.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) itself has committed to fund some P100 million worth of projects in Mindanao, including enterprise enhancement, technical assistance, infrastructure and agricultural production.

Citing his own source in an international donor agency, Herrera  said around 170 consultants of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the UNDP had left Mindanao.

The congressman said these donors were worried that their humanitarian assistance would have the same effect as subsidizing military efforts in Mindanao.

Kauswagan

Diokno said the supplemental budget was sought and approved around April, after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) occupied the townhall of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte.

He admitted that it would be "costlier for the government" if the hostilities in Mindanao would drag on. "But we expect a quick resolution. We are now back in the peace talks," he said.

The supplemental budget approved and released to the DND would come from the budget of the executive department.

Unlike before when across the board budget cuts were resorted to, the Department of Budget and Management decided to realign appropriations for government projects and reprioritized them. Diokno would not say for how long the present government budget could sustain government's offensives in the South.

But he said there was no need as of yet for the DBM to ask for a supplemental budget from Congress. He ruled out borrowing money from abroad to finance the war.

Ammunition and food

He said the additional money given to the DND would be used to buy more ammunition, supplies, food and other needs to sustain the armed conflict in Mindanao. It will not be used to hire new soldiers hired.

The budget secretary said there was no need to adjust revenue targets as the armed conflict in Mindanao had not affected the economy that much.

"We are still on target. As you know our deficit as of last April was P8 billion below target," he said. "We have not lowered (our targets). We have not even changed any of our macro-economic targets, exchange rate and interest rates. It remains our target for the year until we think otherwise," he said.

Unless the government ends the war, Central Mindanao stands to lose half of its palay production and 30 percent of its corn harvest, according to the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya.

"Twenty-two percent of the country's food supply comes from Mindanao, and if we will not stop Estrada and the Armed Forces from pounding and shelling Mindanao, a severe food crisis would be felt all over the country," Pamalakaya chair Rodolfo Sambajon said. With a report from Gerald Lacuarta