Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay Friday urged Malacañang to augment the national calamity fund so that local government units (LGUs) won’t be forced to draw their disaster funds from their Internal Revenue Allotments (IRA).

Binay, who is also the president of the United Opposition (UNO), said Malacañang can easily augment the national calamity fund by using the President’s discretionary funds as well as other national funds under her disposal.

“The reality is that many local government units do not have the revenues and are heavily dependent on their IRA. Some even rely on their IRA to pay for the salaries of municipal employees, so asking these LGUs to use their IRA for calamities would be unworkable,” he said.

Earlier, a Malacañang official said the national calamity fund has dried up, prompting it to ask LGUs to tap their IRA to address the needs of constituents displaced by natural calamities like the recent typhoons.

The mayor assailed Malacañang’s admission, saying that it shows lack of foresight and a distorted sense of priorities in fund allocation.

“One would think that after eight years in office and after being consistently battered by strong typhoons and other natural calamities, the Arroyo administration would allocate more funds for national calamity.

Instead, we learn that the government only allotted P2 billion,” he said.