Let’s not ‘debunk’ int’l goodwill

One of the silver linings that we saw in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda is the alacrity displayed by the international community in responding to the devastation in Tacloban and other areas in the Visayas region. The coverage by major news networks like CNN helped ramp up sympathy for the disaster victims, but there is no doubt that the overwhelming sympathy was generated by overseas Filipino workers who are really our goodwill ambassadors all over the world – from the White House in the US, to Europe, the Middle East, down to the oil rigs in Sakhalin, Russia. President Aquino told the diplomatic corps – Filipinos will not forget the kindness shown them during the most difficult of circumstances – and that is rightly so.

To this day, pledges of support continue to pour in from various institutions, organizations and even individual donors.  However, the billions that have been allocated for reconstruction and rehabilitation work demands great responsibility – most especially accountability – considering that the money donated by countries like the United States came from taxpayers. Add to that the fact that a lot of distrust has been generated by another man-made disaster – the Janet Lim Napoles-pork barrel fund scandal. Even the distribution of relief items has been laced with a lot of suspicion, with reports that foreign relief goods were being sold in stores and supermarkets owned by unscrupulous traders.

And now here comes the issue surrounding the construction of bunkhouses for the millions who have been displaced by the super typhoon, this time with the Department of Public Works and Highways and Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson being caught in the proverbial eye of the storm. The controversy heightened when urban planner and architect Jun Palafox criticized the shelters as undersized and substandard, with allegations of anomalies such as overpricing and collusion among suppliers, contractors and even some politicians soon coming out – prompting rehabilitation czar Ping Lacson to direct the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP to create a regional task force to look into such allegations.

According to Jun Palafox, the international standards should at least be 22 square meters per unit with at least three bedrooms in order to provide a separate room for females. It may well be that the size of the bunkhouses is much smaller than the prescribed international standards, but as pointed out by several observers, these are not meant to become permanent housing for the victims but simply temporary structures to address the immediate need to shelter the disaster victims – even while the major rebuilding and rehabilitation work is being done, which includes looking for a permanent relocation site for the displaced families.

As explained by Singson, it will take time to construct permanent housing for the thousands of families that have been displaced, and considering that these people have nowhere else to go, the concern was to immediately act and address the need for temporary shelter. Secretary Singson has denied allegations of overpricing, and has adjusted the size for the bunkhouses, explaining that they were initially unaware of the international standards and measurements for the shelters since the DPWH had not been included in the talks of the “Shelter Cluster” composed of a group of United Nations agencies.

Babes Singson was a former classmate and we all know he was very successful in the private sector, having been the president and CEO of the reprivatized Maynilad Water Services and a senior executive of Ricky Delgado’s Citadel Holdings before rejoining the public sector with his appointment as DPWH Secretary by the President. His prior service in government was marked by dedication and hard work sans any scandal or any sniff of wrongdoing. I know he does not need the money and many have noted how he has been successful in turning around the image of the DPWH from that of a corruption-tainted government agency into one of the most reformed. I and many of those who know him well know for a fact that he would not be involved in any kind of corruption – in any size, shape or form.

Jun Palafox – who is accused by many (including former Senator Ed Angara who had a tiff with the architect in the past) of being publicity hungry – has apologized saying he did not want to make it appear that he is accusing DPWH of corruption in the building of the shelters. “Secretary Singson has my trust and confidence… I had worked with him before when he was BCDA chairman with no corruption. He is a professional and a gentleman. We need him for nation building,” the urban planner said. But Jun had better be careful in making rash statements without checking the circumstances.

We all know that the Philippines is a disaster-prone country that is visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year. And while we can count on the generosity and kindness of the international community in coming to our aid whenever a major disaster happens, we also have to make every effort to do it on our own – which becomes more difficult with a population that keeps growing. We cannot always rely on the help of other nations to pull us through considering that they, too, go through natural disasters like the recent flooding that has inundated many parts of southern England.

In the game of blackjack, a player who has been dealt a low number still has a chance to win with a new card from the deck. Typhoon Yolanda looked like a bad hand, but we are given a chance to come out winning with help from our international friends. Let’s not get busted on this hand.

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