Execs defend junket amid storm ruin

THE DESTRUCTION wrought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” on Estancia, Iloilo, can be gleaned from the damage that this school suffered. NESTOR P. BURGOS JR./INQUIRER VISAYAS

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—A group of village chiefs in the province of Iloilo is defending its decision to send a delegation to a convention of more than 1,000 village chiefs nationwide in a mall in Metro Manila, which has drawn criticism for its supposed insensitivity to the plight of residents in the province who had lost livelihood and homes when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck on Nov. 8 last year.

Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain, provincial board member and head of the Iloilo chapter of the League of Barangays (villages), said village chiefs from the province are being brought to the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City to learn from their counterparts from Metro Manila lessons on how they coped with the devastation wrought by Typhoon “Ondoy” in 2012.

“I don’t think we should limit the learning of our barangay captains to the four corners [of the province]. We can also seek help from government agencies and officials,” Orendain said.

The provincial chapter of the league has drawn criticism for pushing through with sending a delegation to the convention, set on March 22-24, despite the massive loss that the province suffered as a result of “Yolanda.”

The provincial government is paying for the village chiefs’ trip and their participation in the convention. The registration alone, according to Orendain, would cost P16,800 per village chief. The cost excludes travel expenses.

But several village chiefs, including 25 from the town of Estancia, have decided to skip the convention because of lack of funds.

Estancia is among the areas in Western Visayas severely devastated by the supertyphoon.

Storm surges whipped up by Yolanda lifted a power barge off the waters of Estancia, detached it from its moorings and slammed it into the town’s rocky shore, causing an oil spill that spread at least 900,000 liters of bunker fuel into the town’s waters.

At least 446 families had to be removed from their homes in the village of Botongon after toxic fumes from the chemical benzene, a component of bunker fuel, filled the air.

Asked why officials of the village chiefs’ group did not invite speakers from Manila, which would have been less expensive than taking dozens of village chiefs on a trip to Manila, Orendain said the trip is also a chance for the village chiefs to “familiarize” themselves with the workings of the national government.

Orendain, who is from Sara town, which is among the northern Iloilo areas worst hit by Yolanda, said the budget of the villages for development programs and projects would not be touched to bankroll the village chiefs’ attendance in the convention.

“This is not due to caprice. I see no reason to disagree with the consensus reached by league officials,” she said.

But Msgr. Meliton Oso, social action director of the Jaro Archdiocese, said that holding the convention in Manila at this time is “insensitive.”

“We should not think as if it’s business as usual. Typhoon survivors are homeless and hungry. People are suffering,” Oso said.

He said he has been working with foreign relief and humanitarian groups that plan to stay in devastated areas for years.

“It’s shameful that while foreigners are working hard to help by going and staying here, some of our officials appear to be insensitive to the needs of the survivors,” he said.