MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III said lawmakers and policymakers should start drawing up a comprehensive long-term plan for the rehabilitation of Batangas.
Sotto said while the government has started implementing short-term strategies to address the immediate needs of residents affected by Taal‘s unrest, these would not be enough to help the province get back on its feet.
“We have to start pooling our ideas to rehabilitate Batangas. We need permanent solutions to resolve post-disaster concerns and help Batangueños recover,” he said.
He said the government should be ready to implement rehabilitation programs once Taal Volcano quiets down and experts declare that the threat of a hazardous eruption is 100 percent over.
Sotto highlighted the need to address issues on housing, infrastructure and livelihood, which he stressed will be the top three concerns of the provincial government of Batangas.
He said the long-term rehabilitation plans should include the provision of temporary and permanent homes to affected families, repair of roads, buildings and other infrastructure, as well as small and medium enterprise opportunities.
“Let us not forget the hard lessons we have learned from the rehabilitation of Tacloban and Marawi. We did not have ready programs to help those who were affected by these tragedies, to the chagrin of residents who relied heavily on the government to help them get back on their feet,” Sotto said.
Sen. Francis Tolentino prodded the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to immediately formulate a sustainable Taal Volcano resettlement and rehabilitation program.
When Taal Volcano erupted last Jan. 12, Tolentino said the economies of the provinces of Batangas and Cavite, particularly those of the towns of Talisay, Malvar, Tanauan, Agoncillo, Santa Teresita, Cuenca, Alitagtag, Mataasnakahoy, San Nicolas and the City of Lipa, have been greatly affected “with an estimated P6.6 billion, with agriculture and fisheries contributing to much of the losses at P3.17 billion.”
But more than the economic losses, he said based on the 2015 census, no less than 907,664 residents of which more than 4,000 are in Taal Volcano island, have been displaced by the eruption.
Figures provided by the Batangas Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council indicate the numbers could be higher with about a million individuals displaced, around 200,000 of them seeking refuge in evacuation centers in Batangas, Cavite and nearby areas.
But with the alert level lowered, Tolentino said a resettlement and rehabilitation program could now be put in place with the DHSUD as the lead agency.
PhilHealth
An initial P322.3 million will be released by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) this week to cover 50 percent of the reimbursement claims of health facilities in areas affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.
According to PhilHealth, this is part of the “quick response (mechanism) to the calamity and in order to provide continuous health care services from the affected Health Care Institutions (HCIs) brought about by the Taal eruption.”
The funds shall be released under the “interim reimbursement mechanism (IRM)” to provide substantial aid to affected facilities in the aftermath of the calamity.
The IRM is pursuant to PhilHealth Circular 34 s-2013 on the provision of special privileges to those affected by a fortuitous event.
PhilHealth said the funds will enable hospitals, primary care facilities, ambulatory surgical clinics, freestanding dialysis centers and maternity care package providers to continuously provide health care services to affected Filipinos.
The Navy donated P700,000 worth of relief goods to San Luis, Batangas over the weekend.
Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad turned over the items to the Municipal Social Welfare Development (MSWD) of San Luis.
Naval spokesman Lt. Commander Maria Christina Roxas said three evacuation sites were identified for the distribution of the relief goods, including the San Isidro Labrador Parish Church in Barangay Poblacion where thousands of residents from Lemery and Taal are temporarily sheltered.
Also receiving relief items were evacuees at the Taliba Evacuation Center in Barangay Taliba and San Luis Academy in Calumpang West. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Michael Punongbayan