House probe sought on ESA

CEBU, Philippines - Anakpawis Partylist Represen-tative Fernando “Ka Pando” Hicap is seeking for a congressional investigation into the delays in the implementation of the emergency shelter assistance program for super typhoon Yolanda victims in 2013.

Hicap filed House Resolution No. 2322 on August 25, 2015 calling the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to conduct the investigation.

 In 2014, an amount of P18 billion has been earmarked for the government’s ESA program as financial aid to millions in Eastern Visayas, Panay, Central Visayas and some parts of Palawan whose houses were devastated by super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

The ESA program, a major and priority national endeavor administered by the Department of Social Work and Development, is supposed to grant P30,000 to Yolanda victims whose houses were completely destroyed and P10,000 to those with partially damaged houses.

 Hicap said his resolution was prompted by the overwhelming complaints coming from thousands of Yolanda victims, mostly farmers and fisherfolk from various groups, on the alleged “dismal performance of the DSWD in implementing the ESA program.”

 The groups said many poor typhoon victims were disqualified from availing of the ESA because of the stringent conditions set by the DSWD’s Memorandum Circular No. 24 such as the automatic delisting of farmer and fisherfolk families living along shorelines, farms and hillsides that are considered “hazard zones” or “no-build- no-dwell zones.”

 The memo sets only the following as qualified ESA recipients: families who are already renting, and had availed of the DSWD Disaster Family Access Card (DAFAC); contractual government employees with no housing loans from government and private groups; regular workers from the public and private sectors earning lower than P15,000 a month, provided that they have not received the same aid from other agencies; lone survivors who are issued with Dafac; and families who have initiated self-repairs.

 “The delays in the granting of shelter assistance funds brought about by the DSWD’s restrictive guidelines, the agency’s glaring display of incompetence and negligence, and reported cases of abuse and irregularity, flagrantly defeat the emergency and humanitarian nature of the ESA program,” Hicap said.

 DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman in May said she will investigate the distribution of the ESA in northern Cebu following the complaints of some Yolanda survivors that they were crossed out from the list of supposed beneficiaries.

 In Daanbantayan town, for instance, residents of several barangays have complained that they still have not received their share of the P425 million cash aid under the ESA program.

The complainants said they are not supporters of the current Daanbantayan administration, claiming they are victims of politics as they are identified with the opposition.  (FREEMAN)