President Marcos vows to fulfill Yolanda commitments

MANILA, Philippines — On the 11th anniversary of Super Typhoon Yolanda yesterday, President Marcos vowed to fully deliver on the promises given to the victims of the strongest typhoon in history to make landfall.

“All unfulfilled commitments made in the past for Yolanda rehabilitation are responsibilities we fully assume,” the President said in a statement.

“Though no singular fault of anyone, many of these pledges remain unredeemed, and we shall see to it that what the state owed to impacted people and places will be satisfactorily settled,” he said.

Under the Yolanda Permanent Housing program in Eastern Visayas, the government has completed a total of 52,319 units as of June.

Around 5,758 units are under construction. There were 4,647 units with titles already distributed to the beneficiaries, with 45,194 awarded family-beneficiaries.

Eastern Visayas was the worst hit area by Yolanda in 2013, leaving thousands of people dead.

Marcos said the country commemorated Yolanda as it still struggles to recover from the devastation left by tropical cyclones Kristine and Leon.

“Our ongoing crucibles remind us that the powerful lessons brought by the strongest typhoon in history should not be lost with the passage of time. Heeding these is the best way to honor the lives lost,” Marcos said.

“As the most disaster-prone country in the world, we cannot do otherwise. We do not have the luxury of ignorance, inaction and complacency,” he said.

The President called for intensified efforts to help the country adapt to the challenges of climate change and make communities resilient to disasters.

“We must empower our communities and strengthen our local government units, who both comprise our first line of defense against calamities,” he said.

“We must guarantee the speedy delivery of relief and aid to all those who may need it,” Marcos added.

He cited the Filipinos’ bayanihan spirit in easing the pain of Yolanda victims and in accelerating the rebuilding of their homes and livelihoods.

He also urged Filipinos to remember the kindness of the international community, “whose outpouring of support helped us heal fast.”

“Their response reaffirmed a tenet civilization must uphold when one nation faces an emergency or an existential threat – that no man is an island, indeed,” Marcos said.

In May, Marcos said the past two administrations had done “nothing” to rehabilitate areas devastated by Yolanda.

“I cannot say that we have fully recovered from Yolanda so that’s still… with all that rehabilitation you know we only really started two years ago because nothing was done in the previous administration, nothing was done in the previous administration before that,” Marcos said.

Yolanda left at least 6,300 people dead, most of them in Tacloban City.

The National Housing Authority, under the present administration, aims to provide permanent housing to 205,742 families who survived the onslaught of Yolanda in the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Biliran, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Cebu, Dinagat Islands, Eastern Samar, Iloilo, Leyte, Masbate, Negros Occidental, Palawan, Samar, Southern Leyte and Tacloban City through the Yolanda Permanent Housing Program. 

In Tacloban City, Mayor Alfred Romualdez led this year’s commemoration of the onslaught of Yolanda. Classes and work were suspended in the city as part of the remembrance of the tragedy.

Militants, meanwhile, lambasted the Marcos administration for its poor handling of recent natural disasters.

Some protesters marched around Manila covered in mud, symbolizing the agony of victims of natural calamities.

The rallyists were members of Anakbayan, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Health Alliance for Democracy, Narra Youth, Kadamay, Anakpawis, Katribu, Arpak, ACT Teachers, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Pamalakaya and Gabriela, according to a report from the Manila Police District.