2nd Yolanda anniversary Panay protests: “PNoy is the greater disaster”

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – At least 2,500 people in Panay island, who survived the devastation of typhoon Yolanda two years ago, on Sunday commemorated the disaster with a protest rally denouncing President Benigno Aquino III’s leadership that they said failed to address their needs.

The simultaneous protest actions, held in the provinces of Aklan, Capiz and Iloilo, of Panay island, assailed the Aquino administration of allegedly “incomprehensible criminal negligence” towards the victims and survivors of Yolanda.

“We have a greater disaster than Yolanda. He is Noynoy Aquino,” cried Very Reverend Marco Sulayao, chair of the Alliance of Yolanda Survivors, Kusog Sang Pumuluyo. He described the government’s response to Yolanda as a total failure, in which funds intended for the survivors were being embezzled and used for political purposes instead.

The Official Gazette of the Philippine government reported that 96 percent or 987,545 out of 1,028,329 families with damaged houses were given Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA).

In Western Visayas, the Department of Social Welfare and Development-6 reported that, as of October 28, a total of 470,575 families (100 percent of their target beneficiaries) received the ESA amounting to P8.2 billion, itemized as follows:

P2.75 billion for 139,555 families in Capiz; P2.66 billion for P144,323 families in Iloilo; P1.2 billion for 78,419 families in Aklan; P804 million for 58,499 families in Negros Occidental; and P668 million for 46,207 families in Antique.

A DSWD fact sheet however showed earlier revealed that Yolanda displaced 515,071 families in this region, which meant that about 44,000 families have not received their ESA yet.

Monica Bantud of Buylog Capiz, a province-wide organization of Yolanda survivors, said the P35 million intended for them remained idle at the Roxas City government.

In Aklan, survivors’ group Rise Up immediately dismissed the region’s report claiming that more than 9,000 families have yet to receive their ESA.

Its spokesperson Kim Sim Tugna said: Aquino’s response through ESA has been politically tarnished. “Apart from delisting and changing the names of legitimate beneficiaries, there are others who were not given ESA because of political differences. And those who are not legitimate beneficiaries, but with connections with local officials, were given ESA.”

In Estancia, Iloilo, loan sharks commissioned by local officials allegedly benefitted from the ESA by as much as 16 percent in interest rate or P1,600 for every P10,000 loaned by the survivors who received their ESA a few days after they got their loans.

Tugna said the people demanded for accountability from the Aquino government due to its inefficiency to deliver justice to the victims. “No permanent housing, and not even a single grain of sand delivered (for permanent housing).”

The National Housing Authority reported the completion of 17,641 units while 41,566 units more are now under construction, according to the Phl Gazette, but in Estancia, about 100 families are still living in bunkhouses.

The NHA only bulldozed and flattened some areas believed to be sites for permanent housing but until now, not a single structure was built. Capiz survivors also reported that there has been construction activity in the province for permanent housing for Yolanda survivors, said the protesters.

Bayan Panay chairperson Hope Hervilla said. “Many international private donors and non-government organizations have witnessed these but are continuing their assistance to our people here in Panay.”

“On its second year, we call on the Yolanda survivors, and the entire Panayanons to continue the struggle for justice. Aquino has done nothing to ease the hunger and poverty our people but only aggravated the sufferings,” Hervilla added. (FREEMAN)