Lacson quits as ‘Yolanda’ czar

MANILA, Philippines–Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson has tendered his “irrevocable” resignation as presidential assistant on recovery and rehabilitation in areas devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

The resignation will take effect in mid-February after Lacson’s office completes the transfer of reconstruction-related tasks to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Lacson on Sunday said in an interview over dzBB radio that he had asked President Aquino for a transition period of one month to hand over his duties to the council.

Aquino had enlisted the former senator in the massive reconstruction effort a month after Yolanda struck on Nov. 8, 2013, leaving more than 6,300 people dead, 1,000 missing and over half a million people homeless.

“While the transition is ongoing, I can remain. When it has taken place, I have to slowly fade from the scene,” Lacson said.

According to Lacson, whose task it was to coordinate the efforts to rebuild the Yolanda-hit provinces, his office had completed most of its duties and that it was not intended to be permanent in the first place.

When the duties of the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Recovery and Rehabilitation (OPARR) are integrated with the NDRRMC, Lacson said, there could be no two leaders handling the same task.

“Otherwise, the unity of command will be lost,” he pointed out.

The OPARR personnel and technical consultants and the unutilized portions of grants would be included in the transfer of responsibilities, he said.

“I would like to believe he [the President] will see the wisdom of why there is a need for the transition, and why a permanent agency that is covered by a law would need to handle the task,” Lacson said.

Lacson reiterated that there was a need for a permanent agency to coordinate the rebuilding and rehabilitation tasks for calamity-stricken areas, given the frequency of natural disasters in the country.

He said his office was just an ad hoc body, tasked only to oversee reconstruction efforts following the onslaught of Yolanda and only in areas affected by the strongest cyclone to ever hit land. Similar task forces are set up during severe calamities, he also pointed out.

“A task force is too ad hoc, but storms are not ad hoc and hit the country permanently. We even run out of letters of the alphabet [to name storms],” he said.

The NDRRMC law contains a provision requiring a review of what it had accomplished by May next year, Lacson noted.

Since Congress may review the law, one thing it could look into is institutionalizing rehabilitation and recovery efforts, he said.

No need for more powers

He also said that he did not see a need to ask for additional powers since the responsibilities of the OPARR would be transferred to another agency anyway. If he had done so, he would just add another layer to the chain, he said.

The OPARR has also accomplished its goals, including the submission of the comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for Yolanda-hit areas, as well as the inclusion of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, he said.

He said the oversight aspect was also being completed with the setting up of the “eMPATHY” website, which stands for e-Management Platform: Accountability and Transparency Hub for Yolanda.

The website could be used to track down expenditures for some 18,000 projects in the multibillion-peso effort to help the ravaged provinces.

Lacson also said that while he was initially frustrated in his job, since he thought he was given a lot of responsibilities but little authority, he was later able to fulfill his mandate. When international aid and help from the private sector poured in, his office was able to get rolling and was also able to build the transparency hub, he said.

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