LAWMAKERS expressed deep disappointment over Malacañang’s admission last week that it failed to provide the necessities to the survivors of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” because the destruction was “extensive and deep.”
“It is sad that the Palace issues more defensive press statements than fund releases for the transfer of the master rehabilitation plan signed by President Aquino III,” said Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, adding things could have been different with proper planning in place.
Almost two years after Yolanda flattened Eastern Visayas, Romualdez said the government has yet to account for all local and foreign donations and has not done enough to help the Yolanda victims despite the huge funding available.
Reps. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada party-list, Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna and Luz Ilagan of Gabriela also slammed the Aquino administration’s incompetence and insensitivity to the plight of the Yolanda survivors.
“Two years of callous incompetence by this ‘Huwad na Daan’ administration is indeed an even bigger disaster than super typhoons Yolanda, Lando, Pablo and Sendong all combined. Our people, the disaster victims and survivors especially, must now put an end to this calamitous reign of criminal negligence,” Zarate said.
De la Cruz, member of Romualdez’s Independent Bloc, said the government’s failure to fully implement the Yolanda rehabilitation plan proved that that the country has a “selective and uncaring” President.
Ilagan, for her part, asked: “Is the inefficiency inherent or deliberate? If it is the latter, then there is a sinister plan behind this. The specter of DAP and savings hovers above Yolanda survivors.”
Ilagan said the Makabayan Bloc was one with Romualdez in seeking a full accounting of the Yolanda funds, both foreign and local.
“This is what we have been pointing out all this time. Gabriela filed a resolution for a complete accounting of donations, local and foreign in order to make the DSWD account for all relief assistance. It failed to satisfactorily comply,” Ilagan said.
“The incompetence is so massive that foreign agencies have decided to bypass our government agencies and do things on their own. Naturally, it is not enough. The bulk of the assistance is with government,” Ilagan added.
Because the Yolanda issue was “personal” to him, Romualdez had earlier proposed the creation of an automatic appropriation on all foreign, international and local assistance extended to the government, to make these funds as deemed automatically appropriated for the purpose for which it was donated.
Romualdez proposed that all donations for relief, rescue, retrieval and rehabilitation to be considered as public funds in order to make public officials accountable for their use, storage, maintenance and audit.
Romualdez also proposed the creation of a separate department for managing disasters and calamities similar to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the United States.
Romualdez said the creation of a FEMA-like department is one of the lessons he learned from the tragedy brought by Super Typhoon Yolanda almost two years ago, with his district in Tacloban City having the most damage to lives and properties.
Romualdez, who filed House Bill No. 3486, proposed that the agency be called Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management or DDPEM.
Romualdez cited the case of former Senator Ping Lacson’s Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, which was reduced to a mere coordinator of government agencies involved in the Yolanda effort.
“What we need is a DDPEM with a full-time secretary and staff whose sole duty is to help victims of disasters and calamities. Noong nakaraan si Secretary Ping Lacson, wala siyang budget. Ang inasikaso niya coordination lang,” Romualdez said in an interview in ABS CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda.
With the increasing number of natural disasters in the country due to climate change, Romauldez said politics should be set aside so that authorities can focus on helping calamity victims.
“We need a department that would solely focus on natural disasters without the ugly red tape that has caused many delays in the delivery of immediate assistance needed by the victims,” Romualdez, a lawyer and president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), said.
