Presidential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Independent presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe cautioned the government on Wednesday against making “quick fixes, last-minute remedies or band-aid solutions” just to beef up its accomplishments by June 30, 2016.
Poe made this warning amid what she described as “frenzied” efforts of the government to complete or repair infrastructure projects and fulfill unfinished commitments.
“A legacy should have a lasting positive effect rather than further embroiling society in problems once this administration leaves office. Rushing things can ruin things, so they say. And I’m afraid this is what’s happening now,” she said in a statement.
The senator then cited the “seemingly endless road repairs these past weeks that have inconvenienced the public so much that we have started to be swallowed up into a way of life forever marred by traffic.”
She also pointed out the spate of infrastructure projects that started too late in the administration but are now being rushed such as the Skyway extension and the flyover from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex to Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in the reclamation area in Pasay City.
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Likewise, the senator expressed doubts if the government could still fulfill its promises to the victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in the last eight months of President Benigno Aquino III’s administration.
“It has been two years since the calamity and yet there is still so much to be accomplished, so many still to be helped,” said Poe.
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For requirements of permanent shelters alone, she said, the government hardly made a dent in alleviating the plight of more than 200,000 families who were displaced by the super typhoon.
“From the government’s own admission, it was only able to provide permanent housing for 298 families in the last two years. How can you make up for the remainder of the total of 205,198 families who were rendered homeless by Yolanda in the next eight months?” the senator asked.
Poe then warned that the government might also resort to “band-aid solutions and haphazardly built houses” just to fulfill the said promises.
“And by this time next year, we might end up commemorating the Yolanda tragedy with nothing to show and with victims still crying out for help,” she further said. RAM