Drilon urges Aquino to create funds for rehab of Yolanda-hit areas
Leyte province residents queue for relief goods outside the totally damaged Tacloban airport, where many died after a storm surge spawned by Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ inundated the airport and nearby villages. JULIANNE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Franklin Drilon has proposed to President Benigno Aquino III that a new fund be created in the 2014 national budget for the rehabilitation of provinces that were devastated by monster typhoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan).
“We will propose for the next year budget that we should create a special fund only for the rehabilitation of the areas affected by calamities,” Drilon said in his speech during the opening of the midyear session of the Philippine Dental Association house of delegates Monday.
Drilon said that he wants to revise the 2014 budget “in order that we can allocate the billions of pesos necessary not only for relief but for the rehabilitation of that part of our country.”
Yolanda left a wide trail of destruction as it rampaged across the Visayas region levelling entire towns with its more than 250 kilometer per hour winds.
At least 250 deaths have so far been recorded by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) with thousands more feared dead according to local authorities.
The coordination in the delivery of relief goods was being hampered by downed communication and power lines as well as blocked roads due to debris.
Drilon said that “it has been a very trying time for our country” citing the recent magnitude 7.2 earthquake that also hit the province of Bohol and affected surrounding provinces in Visayas.
“We hope to be able to assist our constituents, our countrymen in the Visayas through this fund,” he said.
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