Manila rehab team meets local officials today

CEBU, Philippines -  After requesting the office of rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson to include Cebu in the national government’s post-Yolanda rebuilding effort, fourth district Rep. Benhur Salimbangon said a team from Manila is meeting Capitol officials today to discuss the matter.

Salimbangon said regional directors of the national agencies, Cebu province municipal mayors and engineers are convening today in a coordination meeting at the Capitol’s Social hall.

“Iyang (Lacson’s) staff nagpahibawo nga set na sila for the meeting. We have to get the evaluated reports sa differrent agencies,” he said.

Expected to join the meeting is Bogo City Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez, Jr., whose community-based rehabilitation plan “Adopt a Barangay Project” (ABP) recently  earned praise from the country’s urban planners and experts.

Martinez and ABP chairman Ahmad Clay Escolar were in a five-day roundtable discussion at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Governance when Bogo City was recognized for program, which would now be shared to other local government units (LGUs) as model for their own rehabilitation efforts.

Escolar said the Capability Building on Urban and Regional Planning session they attended was organized by the League of Cities in the Philippines and the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman School of Urban and Regional Planning (SCURP).

Escolar said that it was on the occasion that Martinez earned the appreciation of those in attendance when he shared the city’s rehabilitation plan.

Among those in attendance were UP SCURP Dean Mario delos Reyes, UP Planning and Development Research Foundation, Inc. (UP PLANADES) headed by Cebuano Primitivo Cal, a representative from Lacson’s office, Rene Lorenzo of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Numerous local and international non-government organizations like the Aboitiz Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and the United States Agency for International Development also joined the discussion.

Escolar said Martinez ended his presentation by requesting for assistance in all areas of Bogo’s rehabilitation, earning sympathy from those in attendance.

Escolar said UP PLANADES and UP SCURP committed to help Bogo City in mapping out its Build Back Better Comprehensive Rehabilitation Plan.

Established in 1976, the UP PLANADES is a non-stock, non-profit foundation engaged in research, consultancy and extension services, academic development and training in environmental, urban  and regional planning and related disciplines.

Concerned not only of his city, Martinez likewise pleaded for UP to also extend the same technical aid to seven northern Cebu municipalities that were likewise devastated by the super typhoon.

He was referring to San Remigio, Medellin, Daanbantayan, Tabogon, Sta. Fe, Madridejos, and Bantayan.

Bogo’s rehabilitation plan and those of the seven LGUs would be submitted directly to Lacson’s office for immediate response.

Escolar said that after the discussion in Ateneo, Bogo’s ABP would now be shared with the different LGUs that are also rebuilding after Yolanda as model program. Those who joined the discussion, he said, found the ABP effective as local initiative pending arrival of concrete aid from the national government.

The Task Force Paglig-on of the Province of Cebu is even adopting the city’s ABP, said Escolar.

ABP is a two-year community rebuilding plan created to address Yolanda’s total estimated damage cost of P295.6 million in Bogo City.

In particular, there are 4,000 households that require to be relocated; 8,000 houses that need to be repaired, and 6,000 more that would be rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Salimbangon said today’s meeting would allow them to determine the extent of damage in Cebu that Yolanda caused and the exact amount needed to fast-track the rehabilitation process in the province.

Last week, the Cebu Provincial Board approved a resolution calling for the national government to also include northern Cebu in the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts being implemented in Samar and Leyte provinces.

Northern Cebu was among the areas badly hit by Yolanda November last year.

Last December, the Regional Development Council-7 endorsed a proposed P26.8 billion rehabilitation and reconstruction program for Cebu to the National Economic Development Authority.

The rehabilitation plan estimated that P23.6 billion is needed for shelter and resettlement; infrastructure and utilities, P700 million; social infrastructure, P853.7 million; livelihood and emergency employment, P558 million; and social development, P25.3 million. (FREEMAN)