Only 11 mayors submitted ‘Yolanda’ rehab plans–Lacson

TACLOBAN CITY—Only 11 mayors have submitted master plans to rebuild towns and cities that were hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda, Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson said.

Lacson told reporters on Tuesday that he had decided on a “bottoms-up approach” to hasten recovery by talking to the mayors instead of waiting for the post-disaster needs assessments of the Office of the Civil Defense and the various regional disaster risk reduction management councils that were likely to be submitted in late March.

“That is why, I am appealing to our local chief executives not to wait for our national government, our private sectors. They have to do their work to hasten the rehabilitation effort. (And this) could be done by submitting their post-disaster needs assessment and rehabilitation plans,” the former senator said.

Lacson said it would be easier for him to secure assistance for the local government units (LGUs) if they submitted their plans now.

He said that the business sector had expressed willingness to help the government’s rehabilitation program, citing Teresita Sy-Coson of SM Investments Corp. who had signified her intention to help rebuild the Tacloban City Hospital.

Lacson was in Tacloban together with President Aquino and other Cabinet members to inaugurate the proposed new Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) at Barangay (village) Cabalawan.

Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez admitted that he had yet to submit his master rehabilitation plan to Lacson but promised to submit it before the end of March. Romualdez said the plan was being prepared by the city government in coordination with the UN Habitat and other urban planners.

Tacloban is regarded as the ground zero of Yolanda. More than 2,700 of the overall death toll were reported in the city where damage to property was estimated at P13 billion. The typhoon affected 591 municipalities and 57 cities in Eastern Visayas.—Joey Gabieta