BFP Share of Estimated P1B to P1.5B Fire Code Revenues to Fund Fire Fighting Modernization Program

September 13, 2009

Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronnie V. Puno has said that a sustained modernization program for the Bureau of Fire Protection is now guaranteed because the BFP’s 80% share of the projected P1 billion to P1.5 billion in annual revenues from the fire code fees will be dedicated to modernization.

Puno made this assurance as he bared that “more fire fighting personnel will be hired every year to boost the firefighting manpower of this critical public safety agency.”
 
Under Republic Act 9514, or the Revised Fire Code of the Philippines, the BFP retains 80% of the estimated P1 billion to P1.5 billion in fire code fees, thereby providing an institutional money pool to fund the BFP’s modernization program.
 
Puno said that P1.5 billion is a mere conservative estimate and will probably go up after a review and updating of the fees that can be generated under the new law.
 
Several dramatic improvements have taken place at the BFP from the time he was reappointed DILG secretary in 2006. (He was also DILG secretary under the Estrada administration.)
 
For the years 2008 and 2009, a total of 158 fire trucks will be purchased to beef up the fire truck complement of the BFP.

Puno said that Representatives Edcel Lagman and Junie Cua had pushed for the budgetary allocation for the acquisition of the 150 fire trucks. Lagman was once chairperson of the House committee on appropriations and was succeeded by Cua.

During his stint as House appropriations committee chairman, Lagman had helped allocate funds for the acquisition of 58 units of fire trucks in 2008, Puno said. Cua, the current committee chairman, pushed for the allocation of money for the purchase of 100 more fire trucks this year, he added.
 
Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, chairman of the House committee on public safety, was largely responsible, meanwhile, for the passage of RA 9514 or the revised fire code.

The starting salary of entry-level firemen will go up by P4,000 a month, or P12,500, a reward, Puno said, for the exemplary work of the country’s fire fighters .
 
He said he has paid special attention to the needs of the BFP, with special focus on modernizing the institution, boosting employee moral through salary increases and the hiring of more personnel for the BFP.
 
Puno had lobbied long and hard before congressional leaders to give the BFP financial independence as it pursues its long-overdue modernization program.
 
The guarantee of an 80% retention of total fire code fees collected annually that was passed as a key provision of the fire code was the breakthrough provision, said Puno.