Tacloban may lose out to Palo as E. Visayas trade hub

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Tacloban City could lose its status as the economic hub of Eastern Visayas as the joint public-private rehabilitation and recovery team led by former Sen. Panfilo Lacson ponders moving it away from the shoreline and making Palo the new gateway to the region.

Lacson, the presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery, said: “Tacloban has decided to move northward but they will not, for lack of a better word, kill the old city. It will stay there but will move to a safer area.”

At a press briefing in Malacañang, Lacson noted that only 69 hectares have so far been identified as a relocation site for Tacloban’s move.

“This is not enough. They are still looking for other possible sites where to build a new city. What we need to determine is where to put the government complex center. The Jica (Japan International Cooperation Agency) has suggested Palo,” said Lacson, who hinted that the airport could also be moved out of Tacloban City.

Palo is a third-class municipality in Leyte province largely known as the landing site of Gen. Douglas MacArthur on his promised return to liberate the country from Japanese occupation in 1944.

Lacson said the rehabilitation plan called for imposing a 40-meter setback for all facilities from the shoreline but some sectors were resisting this. He pointed to the Department of Tourism that noted this could not be applied to beach resorts.

“One practical solution is to allow structures near the shore as long as they are classified as no dwelling zones. We have to adjust and be pragmatic,” he said.

Lacson said all structures to be rebuilt in the disaster areas, including the evacuation centers, should withstand winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour and Intensity 9 earthquake.

He favored the construction of buildings with multiple functions such as hospitals that could be converted into communications and command centers and gymnasiums into evacuation centers with sufficient food and water stock.

But Lacson said he remained focused on accelerating the rebuilding of Tacloban. “That is where the economic activities radiate from and where nearby towns and municipalities depend on. Tacloban is like Makati,” he said.

He said that with so much money pouring in from donors, Tacloban had to grapple with a spike in inflation as supply levels remained far from ideal. But he said authorities had tamed inflation in the area by 30 to

40 percent.

Lacson said his group had also established a multidonor fund from overseas Filipino workers and private foundations to be managed and administered by the private sector.

He said the fund’s board of trustees was likely to be made up of officials of ABS-CBN, GMA 7, PLDT-Smart, Globe Telecom, and SGV & Co. founder Washington Sycip.

Several billionaires have  volunteered to be “coshepherds” in the 24 areas identified for rebuilding—such as Manuel V. Pangilinan and Enrique Razon for Tacloban City; George Ty for Palo; Injap Sia for the rest of the first district of Leyte; Gabby Lopez for the second district of Leyte; the Aboitiz family for Ormoc, Cebu and  Eastern Samar and parts of Leyte; the Yuchengco Group for the fourth district of Leyte; Manny Zamora for Eastern Samar; Edward Gaisano for the third and fifth district of Cebu; the Ayala family for Negros Occidental and Aklan; John Gokongwei for the fourth district of Iloilo; Henry Sy and Lucio Tan for education; and San Miguel Corp. for housing.

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