RELOCATION OF FLOOD VICTIMS MEETS DELAY

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Relocation of those displaced by recent typhoons would take longer than what had been projected, Malacañang said Friday.

The government also admitted to hitches in transporting goods to typhoon-devastated areas in Northern Luzon but otherwise, it said, relief and rehabilitation efforts there were moving along according to plan.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said, “We are very much on track. We don’t have serious problems on the relief aspect because as per the report of Secretary [Esperanza] Cabral of the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development], we really have very sufficient supply of relief goods.”

He added, though, that Cabral reported some minor problems in transporting the relief goods as well as equipment to Northern Luzon.

The government also admitted that it would take time to relocate the hundreds of thousands displaced by tropical storm Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng.

“We have determined three stages as a response to the problem [of relocation]. The first stage is relief, which will take one month to three months. Second is immediate recovery, which will take three months to six months. Third is relocation and rehabilitation, which will take six months or more. So, I think the actual major relocation will still take place maybe three months or six months from now or much longer,” Remonde said.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said that the government and the private sector have agreed to lead relief caravans to the victims of Ondoy and Pepeng, which claimed hundreds of lives and billions in crops and property in Northern Luzon, particularly Benguet province, including the resort city of Baguio.

The caravans are expected to leave Manila 6 a.m. of Monday, Bello added, and go to Benguet and Baguio City and the other typhoon-hit areas: Bulacan and Nueva Ecija provinces in Central Luzon; Cagayan and Isabela provinces in Cagayan Valley; and Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan provinces, also in Northern Luzon.

Calamity funds

The private sector, according to Remonde, will play a big role in assuring that the P12-billion calamity fund recently approved by Congress would be used wisely.

Reacting to a concern raised by Sen. Edgardo Angara on the use of the P12-billion fund, the Press secretary said that the government was taking Angara’s warning seriously.

“The warning of Sen. Angara is very well-taken. We welcome that statement and we would like to assure him that this will be done with utmost transparency and partly, this is also in fact part of the . . . I understand they are creating congressional oversight committees to look into this and that is welcome,” Remonde added.

“And the Reconstruction Commission will also have some oversight on this. We agree with Sen. Angara that the use of this [calamity fund] should be judiciously and wisely done and should really go to intended beneficiaries,” he said.

Remonde added that the P12 billion would be allocated for immediate rehabilitation of damaged roads and bridges and relocation of those displaced by the typhoons.

Besides the oversight committees being set up, he said that existing government rules and procedures are in place to ensure that there will be transparency in spending the money.

“We already have the government procurement and transparency board and all other related systems and procedures. In addition to this, we have the congressional oversight committees looking into this . . . we have the Reconstruction Commission and of course, most of all, we have the ever-vigilant media that will help ensure that all these will not go to waste,” Remonde added.

The participation of the private sector will be a guarantee in assuring that the money is spent wisely.
Businessman Manny Pangilinan heads the commission, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves as co-chairmen.

The commission will not only be overseer but also implementor of all reconstruction activities, Remonde said.

Foreign donations

Foreign aid to those displaced by Ondoy and Pepeng seemed to keep flowing.
The Japanese government has given the nongovernment organization Christian Aid P4.4 million in grant particularly for Ondoy’s victims.

Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Makoto Katsura and Daphne Dajoras Villanueva, the country director of Christian Aid, signed the grant contract at the Japanese Embassy also on Friday.
The grant will provide packs of food and non-food items to around 3,200 households or approximately 19,000 people in Bagong Silangan village in Quezon City and three villages in Rodriguez town (formerly Montalban) in Rizal province.

Based on reports from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) as of October 13, more than 800,000 families were affected by floodwaters and mudslides caused by Ondoy.
Also according to the reports, 45,129 families are still in evacuation centers.

The reports said that Ondoy caused the death of 337 people and 37 others to remain missing.
Japan delivered P10 million in emergency relief goods to the Philippine government on September 30.

Then on October 9, it gave P210 million in food assistance through the United Nations World Food Programme as a response to the United Nations Flash Appeal made on October 3.
Moreover, the nongovernment organization Japan Platform had contributed P50 million for relief operations and medical missions.

Malaysia also on Friday sent 43 tons of relief goods to the typhoon victims.
Two Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130s transported blankets, clothes and rice, according to a report of Malaysian news agency Bernama.

Two more flights are expected to take off on Sunday, the report said.

Thajudeen Abdul Wahab, the secretary of Malaysia’s National Security Council, told a news conference that Kuala Lumpur would continue humanitarian aid to disaster-hit countries, like the Philippines.
From South Korea also on Friday, Secretary Cabral received donations consisting 3,000 fifty-kilo sacks of rice, clothes, blankets, shelter materials and assorted medicines from South Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Choi Jung-kyung.

The donations for both Ondoy and Pepeng victims were coursed through the Korea International Cooperation Agency.

Angelo S. Samonte, Immanuel Pastolero, Camille Bianca Lopez, Llanesca T. Panti, Sammy Martin And Xinhua

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/tech-times/4128-relocation-of-flood-victims-meets-delay