Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares (left ) and Carlos Zarate. INQUIRER.net, INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines—As thousands of lives were claimed by Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), arguably the strongest typhoon ever recorded, two lawmakers proposed the construction of a “memorial marker” in Tacloban City.
Dubbed the “Yolanda Memorial Act of 2014,” Bayan Muna representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate filed a law seeking to establish a marker in memory of Yolanda victims.
“Super typhoon Yolanda was one of the worst natural disasters to strike the country in recent memory, and that the death toll was apocalyptic in magnitude and the damage to property was biblical in proportion,” Colmenares said.
The partylist representatives said the marker, which will be constructed in one of the hardest-hit areas by Yolanda, will also serve as “a reminder to the country’s leaders and the people to work towards a disaster-resilient nation.”
Based on the latest National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council report, the death toll from the destructive typhoon stood at 6,268 with 28,689 injured and 1,061 missing.
In the proposed measure, Zarate and Colmenares tapped the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the local government units (LGUs) responsible.
Engraved on base of the memorial marker will be:
“In memory of the thousands of victims of Yolanda
That calamities have been transformed into a monstrosity due to climate change
That the leaders of this country must employ its utmost knowledge and care for the people
To work for a disaster-resilient nation
That appropriate, decisive and climate-adaptive policies must be enforced
To help protect the lives and livelihood of the people and mitigate the effects of disasters
To prevent such loss when another calamity as Yolanda should ever come our way again.
May this never happen again.”
The inscription, according to the bill, may be translated into Filipino or Waray, or both, depending on the discretion of the LGU.
As for the budget of the proposed project, the bill said it will be charged against the allocations in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of the DPWH.
The bill is currently pending at the House Committee on Public Works and Highways chaired by lone district of Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan.
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