VISAYAS DON’T NEED BUREAUCRACY BUREAUCRACY TO REHABILITATE REHABI
The Rehab Czar
Ping Lacson’s appointment as rehabilitation czar cza is a challenge. The job is more of a coordinator and manager for all the government agencies and private developers that will be involved in the rehabilitation efforts. He will direct the process, so his new role needs both a consultative and an “iron fist” style of leadership, leadership, not an engineer or an architect
Is the Appointment Morally and Ideologically I Repugnant? epugnant? As we can remember, Lacson shunned the pestilential “pork barrel” throughout his 12 12year term as senator, refusing to dip his hands into the delectable but decidedly diabolical discretionary funds for lawmakers’ pet projects and quite prophetically warning the money would lead them astray to the slippery road to perdition. perdition As the chief of rehabilitation efforts, the former lawmaker’s appointment would make him the officer-in-charge charge of the P 41 41-billion funds for rehabilitation and construction of Yolanda-stricken stricken communities in Eastern Visayas.
Private Firms Are Encouraged to Invest The private sector will participate in the rehabilitation and will give them tax incentives to encourage them to get involve in rebuilding more climate-resilient resilient communities in typhoon-ravaged ravaged Eastern Visayas. Visayas Whatever the government may lose in revenue will
be recuperated in savings on reconstruction because the private contractors will fund their own projects.
The Distinct Role of the Government and the Private Firms The role of the government is to enable, to monitor and oversee, and to look at funding gaps that could be filled through other donations. The private sector will initiate, develop, and fund. All of them have corporate social responsibility. They are obligated and they have the fund that’s privately managed. The involvement of the private sector would allow a speedier implementation of the rehabilitation project, and avoid delays usually seen in the disbursement of public funds. The government is usually made slower by the set of rules and official procedure and so is not to be expected to respond quickly or lead emergencies.
Interference is Expected But Not Allowed It is also expected that there will be officious government officials to interfere the rehabilitation and he committed himself to win their cooperation, but will keep the government uninvolved in the actual reconstruction to avoid the ‘red tape’. It was decided in fear that the notorious ritual of official procedures may slow down rehabilitation, one of which is the awarding of projects. Public biddings could take an unbearable wait and will only cause delays for completing the plans the soonest possible time. Another is the output; the private sector is more efficient than the government.
His Expertise Will Not Be Disregarded Lacson’s expertise is on law enforcement, not rehabilitation— but since the law is suspended in areas declared to be in a state of calamity his ruling skill could help maintain the peace and order while rebuilding the place, besides the job is “daunting but doable.”
Washed Away Land Titles In Tacloban or Samar, all records were washed away. This builds an open opportunity for land grabbers to take advantage of the situation. The Land Registration Authority started to reconstitute the property owners of land titles that were washed away by the
storm surge, and determine the boundaries of each property, because restoration cannot be started unless the land titles and records will be established.
Provision and Prohibition The Philippines lies in the typhoon belt and typhoons are becoming progressively stronger because of climate change, therefore, houses made of wood or bamboo may no longer be acceptable in Tacloban and Guiuan. There will be a new building code: houses have to be made concrete, and at least 50 meters away from the shorelines that have to be protected with stands of mangrove, to make them indestructible during typhoons. There should have a flood-line allowance of about four meters and will be at least two stories and the ground floor is vacant‌ Owners of shoreline properties will be paid with cash or exchange them with land further inland or with units in condominiums that will be built by developers. Question:
Residents have started rebuilding their homes. How they would fit in with the new plans?
They will have to be temporary. That is why speed is needed in the planning. The bunkhouses are also temporary. The evacuees will have to move to their new homes once these are built.
Plans to Level Up The task is to rehabilitate the whole place but the goal is not just restoring it, but to be one level up. The blueprint for the rehabilitation was already being drafted. We will build a new, well-planned city, to avoid the usual problems with old cities like traffic jams and slums. Wide streets and wide tree-shaded sidewalks to encourage people to walk, a minimum of traffic intersections to avoid traffic jams common in urban areas like Metro Manila with maximum use of underpasses and flyovers as in the planned cities of Canberra, etc. and parks to make the cities pleasant places to live in and avoid concrete jungles.
Rehabilitation Outlay MalacaĂąang earlier announced a P41-billion outlay for the rehabilitation effort, majority of which would be allocated on building new houses and major infrastructure such as
roads, bridges and sea and airports. It would also cover the restoration of livelihood and education systems in typhoon-hit areas, among others. Overwhelming response from foreign donors and the private sector has been received soon after his appointment was announced.
Skilled and Non-skilled Will be Hired Plenty of workers—carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, painters, laborers—will be needed in the reconstruction and the people of Leyte and Samar to have first priority in the hiring. He has proposed that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority hold crash training programs for inexperienced workers.
Starting What Needs to Be Done A mobile office will be set up since the areas devastated by Yolanda are scattered across the Visayas, and said that Lacson will only needing 10 people to manage the central command center for the rehabilitation and reconstruction work, with the private sector playing the major role in order to avoid red tape and corruption. There would be no “priority area” for the reconstruction and restoration since the devastation is not only concentrated in Tacloban City; and some areas will start from scratch.
Grafters Not Allowed As for handling billions of pesos allotted for reconstruction and rehabilitation, Lacson promise he will not allow anyone to meddle and mishandle the fund entrusted to him. With the full power and authority from the President coupled with laws against corruption and the continuing reforms in the pork barrel issue, it will be easier for him to hit them who will try to steal the funds mean for rehabilitation. The place should be thoroughly cleaned up; we must exert effort in finding missing persons, and give them all the respect, conduct forensics and put them in body bags, and give them decent burials, and most of all, re-establish the living.
Bringing Back Peace and Order Lacson wants businessmen who have fled the typhoon-ravaged areas to return as soon as possible to normalize the situation. But investors were discouraged by the looting and the lack of security
Lacson expertise in law enforcement will intend him to use a “mailed fist” against lawbreakers. The looters who openly selling the goods they stole will be responsible for their crime, as the law will soon be put in force in the area.
Private Businesses Will Be Supported He proposes that loans be given to the businessmen and the property owners so that reconstruction and rehabilitation can be speeded up. He said he has not yet visited Samar and Leyte but as soon as he receives his formal appointment papers, he will go there to see the destruction and what needs to be done. He said he needs a staff of only 10—urban planners, engineers, architects, lawyers, financial experts, etc.—and he intends to hold office in Manila, but he would have deputies stationed on the ground in the storm-hit areas.
Foreign Pledge for Long-Term Support and Rehabilitation Assistance The Philippine government has received P531 million of the roughly P22 billion in foreign aid pledges as of Wednesday, Dec. 4. This amount includes initial pledges for reconstruction, particularly $20-million (P875.14 million) official development assistance from South Korea for rehabilitation efforts from 2014 to 2016. The United Nations is also set to issue a renewed flash appeal for aid this month, expected to raise its call for $348-million in funding for continuing relief and recovery efforts across the country. While the United Kingdom pledge a long-term support for the Philippines to recover from the effects of Super Typhoon. •
a £5-million investment in resilience for up to four cities in the Philippines, for flood protection and drainage systems equivalent to P298.6M
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a £3-million allocation from £30 million pledged to the United Nations and Red Cross appeals to ensure women and girls are not disproportionately affected by the crisis equivalent to P179.160M
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a £2-million allocation from within the £30 million pledged to the UN and Red Cross appeals to let UNICEF increase nutrition provision alongside the increased capacity of the primary health care system equivalent to P119.44M
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a £1-million allocation from the £30 million pledged to the UN and Red Cross appeals to help 3,000 people to receive the tools and materials to rebuild their homes equivalent to P59.72M.