Getting them back on their own

From the latest tally the Philippines has supposedly received as much as P21 billion in foreign pledges, both in cash and in kind, to assist our country to recover from the devastation wrought by super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) last Nov. 8. Of this total, only P531 million in cash passed through the Philippine government and was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This as of Wednesday, according to the official spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez. He, however, clarified these international aid did not pass through the DFA, except for the $1 million donation from Indonesia given to the Philippine embassy in Jakarta. The Indonesian aid, in turn, was turned over by the DFA to the DSWD as the ultimate recipient of the donation.

Over a luncheon reception last Wednesday hosted for The STAR editors, DFA Secretary Alberto Del Rosario noted with deep appreciation the outpouring of international support for Haiyan victims. Del Rosario clarified the DFA does not handle any of these monetary assistance coming from foreign governments and international aid groups and individuals.

Del Rosario explained DFA’s role is merely ministerial like telling foreign donors where to course their donations and monitoring the aid coming in and where these are given. In this particular case, donations to the ongoing relief and rehabilitation activities in Haiyan-struck provinces in Eastern and Central Visayas.

The DFA has listed at least 33 countries and international organizations that have pledged different forms of assistance to the typhoon ravaged provinces.

Most of the foreign aid for Haiyan, he cited, were coursed through the Red Cross and other international relief organizations and United Nations agencies as well as some local civic and charity groups actively involved on the ground to help residents of communities get back on their feet and return to normal living.

Is this any indication of lack of trust on the Philippine government even as they say we have a very honest President? Is this the reason why of the P21 billion total foreign aid for Haiyan, only P521 million passed through the Philippine government?

Del Rosario pointed out these donations can only be considered tax deductible if given to these certified international relief organizations. That’s why, he said, the foreign donations were not being given to the government.

Hopefully, the foreign aid for Haiyan reconstruction is not the core of conflict heating up the ongoing blame game between national and local government officials in the post-assessment of Haiyan devastation.

The government launched earlier the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub or FAiTH, a pioneering web portal that allows the public to monitor foreign assistance to the country in response to calamities. Comprising the FAiTH monitoring team are the DFA, DSWD, Department of Budget and Management (DBM); Department of Finance (DOF); Commission on Audit (COA); National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and the Office of the President.

President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III officially named ex-Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson as the presidential assistant to the Yolanda rehabilitation program.

The Philippine government will present next week, as scheduled on Dec.18, the final Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for the Haiyan-affected areas that would be funded under the UN flash appeal. Del Rosario disclosed the reconstruction plan will be presented to foreign donors and development partners as finalized by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

NEDA director-general Arsenio Balisacan earlier met with representatives of the 25 development partners to outline the initial Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan. The NEDA chief, who is in charge of coordinating the national plan for the Yolanda reconstruction, co-moderated with the DFA Secretary the pledging session held at DFA last Nov. 28.

A few days after Haiyan wrought mass destruction in Visayas, the DFA Secretary told us he received a telephone call from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon offering the UN’s solidarity with the Filipino people. If plans push through, the UN chief himself is planning to come to Manila for this formal presentation.

The Philippines needs almost $301 million (P13.174 billion) in assistance for the continuing relief operations and rehabilitation of typhoon-affected areas in Visayas. UN humanitarian chief coordinator Valerie Amos came up with this initial estimate after making assessments of the situation in the Philippine calamity-hit areas.

So in addition to these foreign aid, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have announced a total of $1 billion each worth of emergency loans and grants to help in the reconstruction and recovery programs of the Philippines for Haiyan-stricken areas and other calamities like the October earthquake that destroyed Bohol and other provinces.

While the huge streams of financial assistance would surely help the country in its recovery efforts, there are downsides to the economy with the creation of new money. 

In a recent chat, Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco assuaged this concern, citing the bulk of these foreign aid come anyway into the country in the form of imports and not necessarily new money. Hence, the BSP governor is confident the Philippine government could provide for the peso counterpart funding for these emergency loans, grants and aid without necessarily fueling inflation.

More than these concerns on the impact to the country’s economy, President Aquino must see to it that the faith and international goodwill to help the Philippines recover from Haiyan will not be sidetracked by intramurals among government officials.    

Instead of fighting on hindsight over what they should or should not have done in times of disasters, these warring officials should use their steam to move forward the reconstruction of damaged areas to help the displaced victims progressively – not derisively – get back on their feet again.