A summit that will review the actions taken during and after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in preparation for the Philippine Development Plan is set in Cebu on Thursday.
The summit is held a month before the third anniversary of “Yolanda” which left more than 6,000 dead, many of them in Tacloban City, and devastated northern Cebu on Nov. 8, 2013.
Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. said the summit will be attended by delegates from government agencies that led the search, rescue and relief operations.
These include the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Interior and Local Government, Health, National Defense and Agriculture and Bureau of Customs.
Evasco said private multi-sectoral groups, especially those who facilitated donations for the victims, will be invited.
The secretary, who oversees 12 national government agencies on the strength of the first executive order issued by President Rodrigo Duterte, said the summit will tally the donations, in cash and in kind, the Philippines received from other countries.
He said it must be accounted how much was received from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Israel, China, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries.
It must also be traced who received it and the capacity in which they were authorized to receive it.
It must also be traced how much was given by the private sector and who were the beneficiaries.
There were accusations that government officials, politicians and even leaders of private organizations pocketed some of the donations.
Evasco said that when he went to Tacloban, most of the feedback was that the government did not listen to the people’s clamor.
He said the inputs to the summit will be used to revise disaster-response policies.
