AFTER four months of waiting local government units affected by super typhoon Yolanda can now have access to the millions of peso funds raised by the national government though cash donations of international and local donors for the rehabilitation of their respective localities.
This was revealed Tuesday by Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who said that it was Secretary Panfilo Lacson, the presidential assistant on rehabilitation and recovery, who informed him about the change in government policy regarding Yolanda donations.
“There is now a change in policy. The previous policy didn’t tap the LGUs, but now the LGUs are being utilized. In fact, there were already downloads to LGUs of funds by the national government,” Marcos, who chairs the senate committee on local government.
The change of policy could be the government’s response to the earlier claims of some local officials in the Yolanda affected areas in the Visayas that the national government had not given them budget for their own rehabilitation endeavors.
Based on the date of Foreign Aid Transparency Hub, or FAiTH (www.gov.ph/faith), the government as of February 12, 2014, received a total of $13,337,478.00 cash donations or P648,176,187.53 based on the a foreign exchange of $1= P45.012.
The total foreign aid cash and non-cash pledged was $551,913,473.00 or P24,843,729,246.68.
FAiTH is an online portal of information on calamity aid and assistance pledged or given by countries and intergovernmental organization, as well as donations coursed through the Commission on Filipino Overseas’ (CFO) Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino program (LINKAPIL).
Marcos said reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged government buildings and facilities like municipal and city offices will be prioritized to be followed by public facilities like schools and hospitals.
“The new policy is a welcome development and I think local officials now can implement reconstruction and repair projects because of the money that will be given to them,” he said but reminded LGUs the need for them to submit needs assessment and calamity report first.
Aside from the ongoing rehabilitation efforts of the national government, Lacson also informed Marcos that private organizations like the Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity have also been active in the construction of houses for displaced families in fact, the private sector is acting faster than the government.
Marcos however made it clear that private sector is always faster than the government because it doesn’t need to undergo the bidding process and other requirements that need to be met first before the project is executed.
Other private organizations that are helping in the rehabilitation activities include
the Shelter Box, a foreign non-government organization partnered with the local rotary clubs, who provided tents and other basic necessities to homeless families in Tacloban and Ormoc; The Aboitiz Foundation, the Social Development Arm of the Aboitiz Group of Companies, has reportedly started repairing 200 classrooms in Northern Cebu, particularly in Bogo City and San Remigio, as well as building 70 new classrooms with the support of Metaphil Aboitiz Construction affiliate and the Magsaysay Foundation gave 150 fishing boat to fishermen in Leyte. Jefferson Antiporda
No comments:
Post a Comment