House independent bloc wants probe on ‘Yolanda’ aid

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The House independent minority bloc wants the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation on the status of rehabilitation efforts for the victims of super typhoon “Yolanda.”

In a statement, the minority bloc said it would call an investigation because “we want to know what exactly has been accomplished so far by the national government.”

“We want to find out how many shelters have been built and for how many survivors, how many more remain homeless up to now and what’s causing the slow pace of the construction work,” the statement read.

The bloc said it would ask for inventories and audit reports on the billions of pesos aid that came from domestic and even international donors.

“Six months after Yolanda, we have not yet seen or heard of any breakdown on where the money and the goods went,” the bloc said.

“Most of all, we have not seen any assurance that the aid is not being misplaced or diverted to the pockets, or into some vested personal interests of other people instead of to the survivors,” they added.

In a briefing on Monday, independent bloc leader Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said it is about time to ask questions six months after Yolanda hit Central Philippines.

Representative Romualdez is the cousin of Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez, who had a spat with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas over the course of the rescue operations in the aftermath of Yolanda.

Yolanda, known as the world’s strongest typhoon to hit land, has claimed over 6,000 lives.

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