THE Palace admitted on Saturday that the Aquino administration is facing “challenges” in implementing its rehabilitation program for the survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda that devastated the country in 2013.
Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte made the admission after reports that only P47 billion out of the P167.9 billion funds under the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan have been released as of June 2015.
But Valte blamed local officials because the Executive Branch cannot start reconstructing houses until local governments can identify and find a land that are safe for building.
“We do face challenges when it comes to implementation of the project. While the executive will take care of building and rebuilding the homes, the local government will be in charge of getting or identifying land that can be used for the relocation,” Valte said.
In a forum last Friday, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, Caritas Philippines and the Freedom from Debt Coalition presented a study showing the Aquino administration’s “sluggish” implementation of the reconstruction program.
“The delivery of reconstruction assistance continue to be riddled with infirmities, irregularities and reported misuse of public funds and people’s money—while the majority of the people who bear the brunt of sufferings, not only remain poor, hungry and jobless,” the study said.
During the presentation of the study, entitled “Portrait of the Reconstruction Initiatives in the Areas Affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda,” groups involved in the rehabilitation of Yolanda survivors cited the Aquino government’s “slow delivery” of assistance to victims.
The groups particularly pointed out the dismal completion of only 2,100 houses by the end of 2014, which is still very way below the much needed and targeted 205,128 shelters.
They said the backlog in the construction of shelters was attributed to the availability of suitable lands, which would have been easier if the government has a proper inventory of lands.
They also expressed alarm over the government’s prolonged significant delays in fund releases.
The groups said that only P2.4 billion of the targeted P26 billion for social services was funded in 2014 apart from the P13.6 billion released for resettlement of the required P75 billion, P2.4 billion of the P26 billion for target social services, P9.8 billion of the P33 billion funds for livelihood, and P21.5 billion of the P35 billion budget for infrastructure.
Meanwhile, House Independent Bloc leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez hoped the administration will be able to complete its long-term rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts in Yolanda-stricken areas by the end of President Aquino III’s term on June 30, 2016.
Romualdez said he expects the government to accomplish what it promised to deliver for Yolanda victims.
“We expect the President to fulfill his promise before his term ends on June 30, 2016,” Romualdez said, stressing that a lot has to be done to help the Yolanda victims to get back on their feet.
Romualdez, whose district in Tacloban City was the hardest-hit Yolanda area, earlier lamented that only P47 billion out of the P167.9 billion committed funds under the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (CRRP) as of June 2015 were reportedly downloaded.
Romuadez said he was disappointed to find out that the Aquino administration appeared to have been remiss in its constitutional duty to provide assistance to calamity-stricken areas, particularly in Tacloban City that was devastated by killer typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 where 1.5 million were affected.
Government official figures ware placed at 6,300 deaths and 1,061 missing aside from 28,689 injured; while 918,261 were displaced outright.
Romualdez’s group also asked the congressional oversight committee, together with concerned agencies of government, to account for the P47 billion “Yolanda” funds which had been spent.
“We need to know how these funds were spent,” he said.
Romualdez and his group earlier attended a briefing conducted by the Social Watch Philippines led by former National Treasurer Leonor Briones intended to present a six-month financial audit of national government funds that the Department of Budget and Management released for CRRP.
The study conducted by Briones’ group was funded by Christian Aid, an international non-government organization, from January to June 2015 aimed at tracking Yolanda funds project.
Briones and Prof. Jocelyn Cuaresma, a fellow of SWP, presented the results of their financial audit before Romualdez, Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado, and lawyer Raul Lambino, chief of staff of former President-turned Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City last Wednesday.
It was only last October 29, 2014 or almost a year when President Aquino III finally approved the 8,000-page P167.9-billion Yolanda CRRP that former Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) Sec. Panfilo Lacson recommended.
This was aimed at providing the “build back better” for the resettlement, infrastructure, livelihood, and social services in 171 cities and municipalities ravaged by the powerful typhoon.
