LEYTE Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Wednesday slammed the government’s slow rehabilitation of the Yolanda-stricken areas 20 months after the tragedy.
Only P47 billion out of the P167.9 billion committed to the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan for the devastated areas had been downloaded as of June 2015, Romualdez said.
(left) expounds on how to keep track of the funds allocated for the
rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected areas as Leyte Rep. Ferdinand
Martin and Abakada Party List Rep.Jonathan De La Cruz listen
intently. VER NOVENO
Romualdez’s district in Tacloban City was among the hardest-hit by super typhoon Yolanda that killed more than 6,000 people and devastated most parts of Eastern Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013.
He said the Aquino administration should continue to focus on delivering the services and programs that it promised to Yolanda’s survivors.
“It just highlights the fact that there were lot of promises made but these remain unfulfilled. A lot of commitment of resources have not been delivered,” Romualdez said.
He took the government to task and demanded that the Aquino administration account for the P170-billion budget after attending a briefing of Social Watch Philippines or SWP led by former National Treasurer Leonor Briones.
Her group conducted a six-month financial audit of the national government funds that the Department of Budget and Management released for the recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the typhoon-hit areas.
Romualdez also asked the concerned government officials to itemize the P47 billion funds that had so far been spent.
“For the sake of transparency, the government should show the itemized expenses of these funds,” Romualdez said.
The study conducted by Briones’ group was funded by Christian Aid, an international non-government organization, from January to June 2015.
Briones and Jocelyn Cuaresma, also a convenor of SWP, presented the results of their financial audit to Romualdez, Abakada Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado and lawyer Raul Lambino, the chief of staff of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.
“[This is] to contribute in strengthening and empowering civil society, government and key stakeholders to have a complete grasp and
understanding of national appropriations for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Yolanda-affected areas,” Briones said.
Cuaresma said they found out that the government did not seem very serious in expediting the full recovery of the Yolanda-stricken areas.
“There are significant delays in fund releases and slow implementation of the CRRP,” said Cuaresma, adding this had resulted in the delays in the implementation of livelihood and social service projects such as housing.
She said the CRRP had no definite funding sources, making Yolanda’s survivors suffer more.
“There is also the absence of a clear central and authoritative agency-body that will implement, oversee, coordinate and have a strong mandate to monitor all the reconstruction and recovery initiatives,” Cuaresma said.