‘Yolanda’: Red tape blamed for slow rehab

Red tape delayed and paralyzed the reconstruction effort for hundreds of thousands of survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” three years ago, according to two senators involved in the effort to rehabilitate devastated areas in the Eastern Visayas.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committees on finance and climate change, said the past administration failed to release before the end of Aquino’s term P20.7 billion of the total P25.6 billion earmarked for shelter support for Yolanda victims.

She identified “bureaucratic red tape” as the main culprit for the delay: “Too many permits and signatures for everything, the lack of proactive, complete staff work attitude, and fear of the COA (the Commission on Audit) perhaps.”

“If the private sector can do it, why can’t government bodies? Paralysis by analysis?” she said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who quit as Aquino’s rehabilitation czar in February last year, noted the same problem, and several more.

“[There are] many factors. Red tape, inefficiency and lack of concern included,” said Lacson, who cited how government had released rehabilitation funds “in piecemeal and in trickles.”

He said concerns over land resettlement and hazard mapping “should not be used as an excuse for not delivering on the government’s commitment to the Yolanda victims.”