Lacson frustrated over rehab’s pace, 2 Cabinet execs

By: Christian V. Esguerra, TJ Burgonio - 11 years ago

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson (inset) and Yolanda destruction. INQUIRER and AP FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines—Secretary Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday expressed frustration over the government’s rehabilitation efforts, but maintained that it remained “right on track” six months after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas.

Part of the frustration was directed against two “deadma” Cabinet secretaries, said the former senator who was enlisted by President Aquino last December to oversee government recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the disaster zone. The Filipino term applies to people feigning lack of awareness.

“I need not name them. I suppose they know who they are,” he said at the regular Palace news briefing. “No matter how many times you call their attention, there’s no response, not even a word that it can’t be done or they cannot do it. There’s just nothing. Isn’t that frustrating?”

Lacson said he had not told the President about it. “I don’t want to give him problems,” he said. “One of these days, I’m going to discuss it with him.” Asked if his problem was related to local governments, he replied: “Next question.”

More than 6,200 people were killed and nearly 4 million rendered homeless when Yolanda—internationally designated as “Haiyan”—slammed across Samar and Leyte on Nov. 8, 2013, with peak winds of 315 kilometers per hour—the most powerful recorded landfall by a tropical cyclone.

“I can say without mental reservations that we are right on track,” Lacson said, citing the absence of “famine, epidemic and breakdown in law and order” in the affected areas. “Perhaps, those who are going hungry are only those who are lazy.”

The actual rehabilitation program will be implemented on a “massive” scale by next month, Lacson said, after President Aquino approves the postdisaster needs assessment (PDNA), which is yet to be submitted to the Cabinet for evaluation.

By law, he said the Office of Civil Defense was supposed to submit the PDNA a month after a disaster, meaning it should have been submitted by December last year. But he said preparing the report was not “that easy,” citing some local governments’ failure to submit their respective assessments on time as well.

Lacson admitted that the government was “in effect” improvising on which projects could be implemented without a master plan. “To say it undiplomatically, we are breaking the law,” he said.

So far, the PDNA has pegged the total rehabilitation cost at P104.64 billion, down from P306.8 billion last December.

Lacson said the government, with the help of the private sector, was implementing “no-regret” or “low-regret” projects, saying “we cannot just sit down and wait for the postdisaster needs assessment.”

“I’m really frustrated because if I want to do something, I want to do it right away,” he said.

“But sometimes you can’t do it because it’s not within my authority,” he added, citing limitations in his appointment paper, which listed his functions as presidential assistant.

Lacson said it would be “ideal” to revise Aquino’s memorandum circular, noting that his office has no “implementing power or authority” but is merely tasked to “coordinate” the whole rehabilitation effort.

“This is a thankless job but this is a noble task assigned to me by the President. At the end of the day, it’s good to have been part of rebuilding areas devastated by the strongest typhoon that ever hit the planet.”

‘Biggest challenge’

The “biggest challenge” is the lack of government land to accommodate families coming from the so-called danger zones. Lacson said the government still needed 1.272 million hectares for the massive relocation. So far, only 26,155 lots have been made available for the 216,966 houses that need to be constructed.

“Hence, I made a proposal for the issuance of presidential proclamations over lands under public domain for resettlement,” Lacson said in a separate statement. “Additionally, I recommend that we allocate funds for the acquisition of private lands through expropriation or direct purchase.”

Lacson cited the need to put up a single body that “can implement, disburse budget, allocate funds” so that coordination during postdisaster rehabilitation could be made easier.

There’s RAY

Director Karen Jimeno of Lacson’s Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (Oparr), told senators on Wednesday that the agency still had to craft a rehabilitation plan without a PDNA.

“We’re working on one. I’m not being defensive or justifying the delays,” Jimeno said when pressed by Senators Francis Escudero and Ralph Recto.

When she tried to explain that under the law the PDNA was the required basis for the masterplan, Escudero cut her off and demanded a definite answer.

“Is there a formal, final plan to rehabilitate areas devastated that’s approved by everybody?” Escudero said during the hearing by the joint congressional oversight committee on public expenditures, which he heads.

Jimeno responded: “There’s the RAY (Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda).” And then she admitted: “But from Oparr… final, official, no.”

She said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) had submitted a draft of the PDNA to the President.

Without such a plan, Jimeno said that Oparr relied on reports from clusters that it has created: infrastructure, resettlement, social services, livelihood and support. Each cluster is composed of government agencies, and is tasked to come up with its own assessment of needs and project requirements.

Only Singson on the ball

So far, only the infrastructure cluster headed by Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has submitted a comprehensive report, she said. Jimeno said that Oparr doesn’t have the power to compel agencies to work with it.

San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora observed that Oparr was functioning not as a coordinator but “more or less like a staff of the President depending on how the President decides.”

Not empowered

“The whole idea that Oparr is an empowered agency, clearly this is not the truth. This is not the case. What’s happening is that people on the ground think that Oparr has this huge array of funds, of powers, of authorities, but clearly they don’t,” he said, pointing out that except for Singson, the other cluster heads don’t bother to send reports to Oparr.

This was worrisome, Zamora said. “Let’s make sure that Oparr has the authority, capability, capacity to do real things, and not just advise the President on things like capacity-building, giving amounts to DILG, local government units. Oparr should be doing something more than that,” he said.

Originally posted at 7:40 pm | Wednesday, May 7, 2014