Mayors tell Roxas their Yolanda woes

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu mayors and other officials got their chance to raise issues concerning their respective local government units, particularly those still recovering from the onslaught of super typhoon Yolanda last year, after they were invited to lunch by three national government bigwigs.

Secretaries Mar Roxas (Department of Interior and Local Government), Florencio “Butch” Abad (Department of Budget and Management), and Edwin Lacierda (Presidential spokesperson) dropped by Cebu yesterday and met the officials over lunch.

While saying that he cannot speak on behalf of the Office of the Presidential Assitant for Rehabilication and Recovery (OPARR), Roxas assured that the national government, speci-fically the president, is working on the rehabilitation programs.

In fact, he said, President Benigno Auino III has called for an assessment meeting last Wednesday to talk about post-Yolanda rehabilitation projects and will have another meeting next week.

A recent Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reducation Management Office report showed that P7 billion has not yet been downloaded by the national government for rehabilitation projects in Cebu.

Roxas said giving the P7 billion is under the OPARR as it is responsible for the major projects like arterial roads, agriculture sector recovery and housing.

He said they have already released for Cebu, or its 16 Yolanda-affected LGUs, P82.79 million. The said DILG funding was for the repair of public markets, municipal and city halls and civic centers.

“The money has been with them (LGUs) since the beginning of the year,” Roxas told reporters.

He, however, told the ma-yors during the gathering that anyone who is having trouble with the allocated funds for their towns or cities should talk to him so he can look into it.

As an example, Roxas cited the major developments that have been made in the towns of Santa Fe in Bantayan Island and in Daanbantayan.

For Daanbantayan, the municipal hall, which cost around P2.3 million, has already been completed; the public market, which costs P3 million, is already 95 percent complete; while construction of the town’s civic center, which was alloca-ted P3.5 million, is already 85 percent done.

For Santa Fe, its P5-million municipal hall is already 64 percent complete, while the public market (P7 million) is now 33 percent complete.

“In general, they are all ongoing,” said Roxas, explaining that the DILG was tasked to work on the projects with a budget of P2 billion for 177 LGUs in all provinces affected by Yolanda.

He said that excluding the P82 million given to Cebu, around half of the P2 billion went to Leyte while the rest was distributed to Eastern Samar, Samar proper, Negros, Ilo-Ilo, Capiz, Aklan and Palawan.

Also, as far as the DBM is concerned, Abad said they have released over P40 billion for Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstructions programs.

“These (programs) are currently ongoing in various stages,” said Abad, who disclosed that he had met with OPARR’s Secretary Panfilo Lacson and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and discussed that since there is an existing balance of P30 billion for rehab projects, it would be then be divided for the different programs.

Abad said that of the amount, P20 billion would go to shelter services, with the National Hou-sing Authority targeting 70,000 units of houses to be built.

Another P2.5 billion would be for livelihood projects implemented through the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Labor and Employment, while another P2.5 billion would be for welfare assistance through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The remaining P5 billion would be reserved for other possible calamities that may hit the country.

Abad said that that the original estimated budget submitted by OPARR after meeting with LGUs affected by the typhoon was at P169 billion. The budget would be good for 2015 to 2016, or for a three-year rehabilitation and reconstruction program.

Abad said he was confident that the government would have the funds, especially with many of the LGUs using their Internal Revenue Allotments for projects, plus the support of government and non-government international agencies, and the bilateral related agencies, substantially reduced the total requirement that the government will have to shell out to around P116 billion.

But Abad said that the “real challenge is on the execution and delivery” of the projects on the ground.

He said that one concern they have is on looking into the designs for quake and typhoon-resistant structures since not all engineers are familiar with it.

Another source of delay, explained Abad, is on locating areas for housing projects for the quake and typhoon survivors.

“There are many places where there is land available but there are geohazard considerations. There are also other places available but they are found in the cities and the price of land is prohibitive. These are the issues that we confront that are contributing to some delay,” the budget secretary said.

Roxas backed Abad’s statements, adding that he has already spoken with Aquino on the hi-ring of additional engineers for Bohol’s rehabilitation projects.

Roxas was in Bohol Wednesday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that jolted the provinces of Bohol and Cebu. Roxas was reportedly irked by the slow progress of the rehab projects in Bohol which was linked to the lack of engineers. 

“If there is also a need to hire engineers for Cebu’s projects, then why not?” Roxas said.

He also stressed the importance of making sure that that municipal and city halls and civic centers, which are under the DILG, should be rebuilt or retrofitted well since these are the places the people run to when a calamity strikes.

Further, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said that if it is really necessary to hire more structural engineers, the provincial government would do so and would find the budget for it.

Davide shared, though, that a group of professional engineers have willingly offered their services to check on structures under the Provincial Government. 

Meanwhile, in response to San Remigio Mayor Mariano Martinez’ inquiry about the status of the second phase of the P2 billion aid from DILG for the barangay’s infrastructure projects,   Roxas admitted that the budget is taking time since the Commission on Audit does not want the department to load the allocation directly to the barangay.

Roxas said that the first P2 billion they released did not have any opposition from COA since it was clear that it was to be distributed to the mayors.

But since the second batch is for the barangays, Roxas said they are looking at the possibility of downloading it through the mayors or the provincial government so that it would transparent as to who was given the amount and how the budget was spent.  (FREEMAN)