‘We’ve done much for Yolanda rehab’

MANILA, Philippines – Critics of President Aquino should take a look at the government portal www.gov.ph to check for themselves how the administration helped rehabilitate provinces devastated by super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, Malacañang said yesterday.

“Can I just refer our critics and followers to the Official Gazette, which contained all the projects done by the national government,” said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, refuting allegations that the government has not done enough to help survivors and restore affected communities.

In an interview with anchor Rey Sampang over state-run dzRB (Radyo ng Bayan), he explained that all the details of the national government’s efforts – from infrastructure, livelihood programs and housing programs to communities that were extended assistance – were cited in the government website and the Gazette.

“There are many projects and these are listed in the Official Gazette, and we will continue to help our countrymen and the communities affected by the typhoon,” Lacierda claimed.

He acknowledged it was “understandable and expected” for critics to have observed a very slow pace of rehabilitation, pointing out the magnitude of devastation was so vast that it walloped the entire Tacloban City.

What is most important, according to him, is for the government to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that claimed at least 6,000 lives, and to provide shelter to families by relocating them to safer places where they will not be harmed by storm surges.

“We need to build back better communities. So, we have done many projects in a span of two years. And we still continue to work on it or improve those that have already been implemented in Yolanda-affected areas,” Lacierda said.

He added that the national government, through the Department of the Interior and Local Government, has helped restore the damaged municipal halls, public markets, civic centers and the like so as to bring back to normalcy the lives of residents.

‘Church raised P3.2 B for Yolanda victims’

More than 1.8 million people affected by Yolanda have benefited from the P3.2-billion fund raised for the relief and recovery operations initiated by the Catholic Church.

Father Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, said the number covered about 20 percent of the total population affected by the typhoon in Leyte, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Palawan, Aklan, Capiz, Antique, Cebu and Iloilo provinces.

In a statement posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday, the operations included the giving of disaster-resilient shelters, water and sanitation facilities, livelihood assistance, and other infrastructure projects that include building of schools and evacuation centers.

The recovery program also covered hygiene promotion, community-managed disaster risk reduction activities, community organizing and ecosystem recovery.

“Overall, the amount spent by the Caritas confederation for Typhoon Yolanda in the last two years has already reached P3.2 billion. And we make sure that transparent and honest spending is being practiced in all levels through regular financial monitoring, evaluation and auditing (by) international auditing companies,” Gariguez said.

He added that “the poorest of the poor” were chosen among the priority targets and that many non-government organizations (NGOs), which also opted to help, picked a specific area and concentrated on relief work.

“But it should not stop there. They must go beyond mere relief and push through early recovery and eventual rehabilitation. This is the more humane way of helping,” he pointed out.

Caritas Philippines, which is headed by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and functions as the CBCP social action arm, is implementing a three-year rehabilitation program called REACHPhilippines with the dioceses of the nine provinces worst hit by Yolanda.

To raise funds, it worked with the Caritas Internationalis members, which include Caritas Austria, Caritas USA (Catholic Relief Services), Caritas Germany, Caritas Italiana, Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Czech, Caritas Netherlands (Cordaid), Caritas Canada (Development & Peace), Caritas Belgium, Caritas Luxembourg and CHARIS Singapore.

Homes for typhoon victims

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) also completed 86 percent of its target number of homes to be built in its shelter project under the Haiyan (Yolanda’s international name) recovery program.

It reported that 66,011 of the 80,203 targeted-beneficiary families in the affected areas are now living in safer and more disaster-resilient houses. - With Edu Punay