Roxas, Romualdez meet again, discuss ‘Yolanda’ relief budget

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas‎ II shakes hands with Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez, tells Romualdez “walang iwanan.” JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

PALO, Leyte–And they meet again.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas‎ II and Tacloban city Mayor Alfred Romualdez sealed their political  rift with a “check” during the turn over ceremony of rehabilitation funds from the government to typhoon-hit local government units.

In the Dialogue on the Recovery and Rehabilitation for Municipalities and Cities here at Palo, Roxas ‎vowed to Romualdez and other Leyte mayors that “no one will be left out” this time.

“Walang iwanan. Magkasama tayo simula nu’ng kasagsagan ng “Yolanda”… Magkasama tayo sa pagbabangon muli ng mga komunidad,” he said.

(No one will be left out. We were together during the onslaught of “Yolanda.” We will be together as our communities recover.)

Romualdez and the Interior Secretary earlier engaged in a word war over the misunderstanding in the roles of the national and local governments in providing speedy relief to the victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).

In Tacloban alone, the government issued a check amounting to P230 million for the reconstruction of establishments.

The P800 million budget is only the first tranche of the rehabilitation fund worth P1,791,400,000. The second tranche will be released after the Commission on Audit finalizes its deliberation on the budget.

This is part of the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) strategic plan for the “reconstruction and recovery of ‎economy, lives, and livelihoods” in areas affected by Yolanda.

“What we gave you are not post-dated checks. Ngayon pa lang, pwede niyo na i-deposit (You can deposit it now),” Roxas jokingly said.

He also emphasized that the budget given to Leyte should be dedicated to the repair and rehabilitation of four key infrastructures.

According to Roxas, these include the City/Municipal Halls, churches, public markets and civic centers.

‎”These infrastructures are the heart and center of every community. Basta umaandar ‘yan, may pagasa mga kababayan,” he said.

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