Help ‘Yolanda’ victims first before infrastructure–Romualdez

Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez hands goods to his employee infront of the ruin Tacloban Airport after Typhoon Yolanda hit the city. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ORMOC, Leyte–‎Interior Secretary ‎Manuel Roxas II’s promise to the local government officials of Leyte that the government will “not abandon them” and that “no one will be left behind” was welcomed by a bitter response.

Roxas made the promise as he personally handed to Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez a check worth P230 million for reconstruction assistance fund in a simple ceremony in a Palo municipality resort.

But Romualdez said the P230 million fund could have been used for relocating displaced families instead of spending it on reconstruction of buildings and infrastructures.

“We can’t use P230 million to develop a land (because) as what Secretary Roxas said, it should really be for (government) buildings only.”

Noting that 14,000 families in Tacloban were displaced ‎after the destructive typhoon, Romualdez said the P230 million could have been used to relocate them in safer places.

“I’m thankful for that but of course if you ask me what’s our priority now, it is the lives of the people,” Romualdez said.

“Sana kami rin matulungan dito sa Tacloban. Mga Pilipino din naman kami (I hope they would also help us here in Tacloban. We are Filipinos too)

In a speech before the Leyte mayors, Roxas stressed that the budget given to local officials should be dedicated to the repa‎ir and rehabilitation of four key infrastructures.

According to Roxas, these include City and Municipal Halls, Church‎es, public markets and civic centers.

The awarding of checks to typhoon-ravaged local governments is part of the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) implemented by the Department of Interior and Local Government.
The P230,687,979.22 budget–the biggest chunk of rehabilitation fund for cities and municipalities–went to Tacloban City.

L‎ey‎te LGUs got the of the lion’s share of the RAY budget amounting to P801,804,911.17, or about 45 percent of the total rehabilitation fund.

‎P2-billion budget

In developing a land for displaced families, Romualdez said this does not only meant the construction of houses but also government infrastructures.

“If we would relocate the families, we also have to a put a health center there, small barangay (village) halls, schools, those are included in our master plan,” he said.

And to achieve this, the Tacloban city Mayor said it would cost them P2 billion.

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