The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced today the release of more than P1.8 billion to various national government agencies (NGAs) and local government units (LGUs) for relief operations and rehabilitation activities in areas devastated by typhoon “Odette” last Dec. 17. Of this amount, the DBM cited, P827.18 million is for replenishment of the quick response fund (QRF) being tapped by the NGAs for their relief and rehabilitation services specifically for Odette-hit areas.
The latest DBM fund releases though were far from the P10 billion that President Rodrigo Duterte promised to raise in aid of the “Odette victims” in these LGU areas. Subsequently, President Duterte clarified raising the P10 billion is a tall order in view of the reports reaching that the calamity and contingency funds for this year are almost depleted already. In sourcing the needed funds, the President suspended for now certain government projects.
As allocated, the DBM distributed the P1 billion as follows: P84.38 million was given to Region IV-B, P248.35 million to Region VI, P202.66 million to Region VII, P115.43 million to Region VIII, P84.37 million to Region X and P264.81 million to Region XIII. With these amounts, the Chief Executive disclosed, each Odette-affected family will be able to get as much as P5,000 cash aids or ayuda.
President Duterte scraped the bottom of the barrel, so to speak.
But yesterday, the President finally signed into law the 2022 budget from which he can draw out starting next week, Jan.1 additional amounts from the calamity funds.
Bohol Governor Arthur Yap, however, estimated a minimum amount of P50,000 to P100,000 per family actually could really help a lot more the “Odette” victims who lost their homes and livelihoods in the province. It has to be distributed through direct cash transfer within the next one to two months, or it will take Boholanos half a decade to recover, Gov.Yap pointed out.
In our Kapihan sa Manila Bay zoom webinar last Wednesday, Gov.Yap welcomed the President’s initial direct cash transfer aids of P5,000 for each family of “Odette” victims. Gov. Yap took the opportunity of our virtual news forum to air his urgent appeals to both local and international donors to help the people of Bohol to rebuild from the ruins of “Odette” at the soonest possible time.
Yap also thanked people from the private sector and non-government organizations that have given financial and relief assistance to Boholanos. Among them is Quezon City government headed by Mayor Joy Belmonte for the P10-million donation and businessman tycoon Manuel Pangilinan for the P17 million in grants and other relief items.
There are about 200,000 families in Bohol who have lost their homes to the typhoon, according to Yap, when the 200 kilometer-per-hour winds and rains “sucked in” the entire island province on that day. Rendered homeless, Yap called out for immediate relief assistance in the meantime for the thousands of families staying in evacuation centers perhaps even after New Year.
Yap recalled similar massive destruction of Bohol from magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Oct.15, 2013. The tremor crushed many infrastructure and facilities, the old churches around the island province and other public and private properties, including houses. About 156 people were crushed to death and buried in fallen buildings and houses.
From “Odette,” Yap rued, 109 Boholanos were killed, five are still reported missing while 2,031 sustained injuries.
The wind intensity of “Odette,” he cited, nearly matched the 230 kilometer-per-hour strength recorded during the killer typhoon “Yolanda” in November 2013. Based from the reports he received, most of the fatalities died either from drowning, buried in landslides, fatally hit by flying debris, among the chief causes.
As of Tuesday, the death toll due to “Odette” as validated by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) was at 397. The province contributed almost one-third of that total. Speaking for Bohol, Yap noted many of the fatalities in the province were people who unfortunately ignored the evacuation notices issued by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Office (PDRRO).
Yap admitted they did not expect “Odette” to strengthen in 48 hours after the weather forecasters announced it will make landfall. This was why, he explained, he could not blame Boholanos for not heeding the evacuation notice to seek shelter on high grounds away from the identified and landslide and flood-prone areas. By human nature, people resist leaving behind their houses and livelihood but take chances on their personal safety.
Even the designated “first responders” at the PDRRO, Yap lamented, were among the “Odette” victims. The Governor who lives with his family in Loboc were among them. Their two-storey house was submerged all the way to the second floor. His other “first responders” in the provincial capitol waited in the roof of their houses to be rescued.
An economist by training, Gov. Yap admitted he could only do so much given the provincial budget of a little over P1 billion a year. While the restoration works are going on, Yap sounded an emotional appeal to various local and international aid agencies to help Boholanos get back to their feet at the soonest possible time. “Many of our people are exposed to the elements and they are going to be celebrating New Year exposed to the heavens,” he moaned. This is the urgent need for “transitional housing” that Yap seeks out.
Nearly two weeks after “Odette” toppled electricity posts, cut high-tension wires and downed telecommunication towers, the restoration of these vital utility services have been taking a long time, the Bohol Governor told us.
Aside from Boholanos, many other people living in Negros, Palawan, Surigao and other provinces that were crossed by the super howler “Odette” remain unreachable by their relatives worried about their safety and situation. The “Odette” victims and their worried relatives are literally facing the new year 2022 in the dark.