Officials to revisit Yolanda experience

CEBU, Philippines -  Revisiting super typhoon Yolanda will be the main agenda in the upcoming Summit on Climate Change that will be held in Cebu within the week.

Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. said the sectoral summit scheduled for October 6 to 7 is part of the series of summits to be done all over the country. He said the Cebu summit will assess whether the people were satisfied of what the previous administration has done to address the concerns of the victims as well as to determine what other things are needed to be done under the current administration.

Evasco said there were also concerns about funds intended for the Yolanda victims but ended up in some politicians' private pockets.

"I have visited Tacloban. I can conclude that this is the case where the government is not listening to the people," said Evasco.

  Tacloban is among the cities that were badly hit by the super typhoon Yolanda. In fact, hundreds of people died in the area. Evasco said that the output of the summit will be part of the Duterte administration's social development agenda.

  Evasco said there is also a need to create policies on foreign donations because some of the donated goods for the Yolanda victims were abandoned at the Bureau of Customs.

"We should have a clear guidelines as to the policies when it comes to foreign aids or donations," said Evasco.

To recall, 26 containers loaded with used clothing, water, medical supplies, among others coming from various countries for Yolanda victims were abandoned at the Bureau of Customs in Cebu.

 A total of 48 countries have donated various relief goods for Yolanda victims amounting to $65.1 million based on the data released by BOC-Cebu from November 11, 2013 to May 28, 2014. The data does not include donations that entered through other ports. (FREEMAN)