Rehab to begin in 6 Yolanda-affected areas

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The full-blown implementation of the rehabilitation in six areas affected by typhoon Yolanda will start anytime as soon as the budget will be released by the Department of Budget and Management.

Undersecretary Lesley Cordero of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, during his visit to this city, said that once the budget will be downloaded to the national government agencies that will implement the priority projects, the rehabilitation will begin immediately in Leyte, Western Samar, Eastern Samar, Iloilo and Cebu provinces and Tacloban City.

However, Secretary Panfilo Lacson is pushing for a bottom-up approach so that certain funds will be downloaded to the local government units, as he assured the public that OPARR funds will be accounted for.

Aside from the Commission on Audit, which has the primary function to examine, audit and settle all accounts and expenditures of the funds and properties of the government, the OPARR is preparing a monitoring and validation team to make sure that everything is above board.

Cordero said Lacson is hoping to achieve an 80 percent completion of the rehabilitation projects under the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan before the end of President Aquino’s term in 2016.

She further said that the national government’s goal is not just to build back better but to do it faster and safer.

Under the CRRP, rehabilitation in the six Yolanda-devastated areas was already approved and announced by President Aquino in his State of the Nation Address last July 28.

According to Cordero, the approved rehabilitation plan budget for the province of Leyte was estimated at P39 billion; Samar (P8.8 billion); Eastern Samar (P11.3 billion) and Tacloban City (P15.7 billion). — From the wires