Yolanda funds: France blacklists Philippines

The other Saturday, we drove 80-kilometers north of Cebu because the Rotary Club of Cebu gave school chairs to the Elementary School in Tabogon. Last weekend, we drove off this time to Bantayan Island with my good friend, Nelson Yuvallos, owner of Anika Resort in Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island. When we got to Hagnaya Wharf, we took the island ferry's LCT Venture I, a huge barge that carries vehicles and passengers to cross to Bantayan Island. One would think that most of our barges are old and decrepit. But this island barge was super clean, from its floors to its toilets.

My wife's grandfather, Man Angel Cabatingan used to own the San Vicente Shipping plying the Hagnaya and Sta. Fe Port. But his vessels were made of wood, which is why he sold it to a Chinese trader from Lucena City. But taking the LCT Venture it was, in my book, upping the ante for ferry service to Bantayan Island. This barge is large enough to ferry cars to Bantayan Island, especially now that Holy Week is fast approaching. Kudos to Mr. Alex Tan for keeping his vessel in good shape and very clean!

Arriving at the Anika Resort reminded me of the times I was in Bantayan Island, just right after supertyphoon Yolanda struck the island. Only the Anika Resort was spared the wrath. I recall that when I was driving to the town of Bantayan in my pickup were we brought many relief goods, one could see so many trees on the ground. Today, two years after supertyphoon Yolanda, those trees have grown back and are giving shade along the road. Indeed, Mother Nature heals itself.

We also went to the Bantayan Wet Market because I know that there are fishes there that we cannot find in our own Carbon Market and it was a pleasant visit because the wet market was very clean. I posted photos on my Facebook and we got a lot of comments that it is very clean. Kudos to Mayor Chris Escario for a job well done!

Now about the political situation in Bantayan Island - if we go by the posters installed, even in the markets, Grace Poe would be the leading candidate and for Governor Winston Garcia had more posters than his rival Governor Junjun Davide. But then local elections are still far away. If at all I was interested in their power situation, Bantayan Island was suffering from pesky brownouts. But as of that trip, most people I talked to told me that the power situation has normalized.

But the folks in Bantayan Island asked me if we could investigate the Bantayan Island Electric Cooperative or BANELCO because those power outages are linked to some inefficiencies the way this electric cooperative is being run. Maybe I should ask Regional Development Council Infrastructure Development Committee or RDC-IDC Manny Rabacal to have this electric cooperative looked into. If you ask me, Bantayan Island deserves better service from the electric coops.

While we can see that much of Bantayan Island has already recovered from the wrath of supertyphoon Yolanda, call it timely that while I was on the ferry crossing to Sta. Fe, I read a report that France has drawn up a blacklist of 17 countries that do not help investigate foreign aid fraud, banning the use of their banks to help distribute development funds. The blacklist expands on an already-established register of eight "non-cooperative states and territories" that already includes Botswana, Brunei, Nauru, Guatemala, and the Philippines.

The officials justified the move by saying there was a lack of transparency in these nations, adding that poor and developing countries were often the main victims of fraud. "The aim is primarily preventative, to put pressure on these countries by publicizing this list to progress towards more transparency."

This my friends is a slap on the face of President Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III and his anointed one, former Department of Interior and Local Government secreatry Manuel "Mar" Roxas II for until today, two years after Yolanda, they have not give the Filipino people any accounting of the monies donated by the foreign countries. What scares me here is that, if we get hit by another supertyphoon, those foreign nations would no longer come to our aid. Thanks to the "yellow regime" and I would like to believe that this is the very reason why the ratings of Mar Roxas has not improved in the polls or surveys.

While typhoon season is still very far away, by the time we have a new president and a typhoon strikes us, those nations that gave us so much would no longer respond in the way they did during Yolanda. Call it the legacy of PNoy who continues to sell his "Daang Matuwid" line, but all that is a farce. Remember in Tacloban DSWD was caught burying tons of rotten food because they were not distributed to the people who needed them. And why was there no investigation?

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