Palace asked: Where is P90-B Yolanda rehab fund?

MANILA, Philippines - “Where’s the P90 billion in Yolanda rehabilitation funds?”

This was the question that Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez asked Malacañang after the Palace said that it released a total of P90 billion as of June 30 for the rehabilitation of areas destroyed by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

“I hope they can really show me – more importantly the victims and the hundreds of thousands who remain homeless and their farms and other properties destroyed – where that P90 billion is,” Romualdez, leader of the independent bloc in the House of Representatives, said on Saturday.

“The bulk of the rehabilitation of the areas devastated by Yolanda are done by non-governmental organizations and foreign institutions, and many of them tell me that the government has not coordinated with them,” he added.

Yolanda battered Visayas and some parts of Luzon in November 2013, killing at least 6,300 people and leaving thousands still missing. But the Aquino administration has yet to confirm the death count. Shortly after the typhoon struck, President Aquino insisted that only 2,500 could have been killed. The police chief for Eastern Visayas, who told media of his estimate of 10,000 casualties, was relieved.

Romualdez also renewed his appeal to the administration to set aside politicking and speed up the rebuilding of Yolanda-hit areas, stressing there should be “justness and fairness” in the release and equal distribution of public funds.

“There should be no selective release of funds. Equal allocation to help the Yolanda-hit areas must be exercised regardless of political color of local leaders,” Romualdez said.

Former Yolanda rehabilitation chief Panfilo Lacson earlier said he had asked Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to be ready to release P80 billion this year for the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program (CRRP), but the latter claimed he still has to find ways to raise it.

Lacson said he told Abad he found P350 billion in savings in the 2014 budget, which was carried over to this year. But to his surprise, Abad did not put the P80 billion for the CRRP in this year’s budget.

DSWD downloads P1.4 B for storm victims

On the other hand, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has downloaded P1.452 billion for Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) for the victims of typhoons Glenda and Ruby, which battered Eastern Visayas in 2014.

Restituto Macuto, DSWD assistant regional director, said DSWD’s regional office has P52 million for Glenda victims and P1.4 billion for Ruby victims. Five municipalities received the funds for Glenda’s victims but no local government unit is identified yet as recipients of funds for Ruby’s victims.

Social workers also underwent a two-day workshop on ESA guidelines and for them to determine how much their municipalities really need. – With Lalaine Jimenea