Can this be right?
“Out of the billions of pesos the Philippine government received from foreign donors following the onslaught Typhoon Yolanda, Tacloban City, considered ground zero of the strongest storm to hit landfall in recent history, has received only about PHP250 million,” reports Joey A. Gabieta on Inquirer.net.
According to Tacloban City treasurer Zosima Cordano, they have only received P251.5 million from the national government. The city government had estimated that it needed at least P20 billion for total rehabilitation.
Cordano said the PHP251.5 million came from three national government agencies: the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Plus, she added, the city government, “also received P34 million in financial assistance from other local government units, private institutions and individuals, and three senators.”
Cordano also provided the following expense breakdown:
—PHP34.5 million – provided by DSWD to finance a cash-for-work program for Yolanda survivors, who were paid PHP260 per day for 15 days of work
—PHP32.5 million – provided by BFAR to repair fish cages destroyed by the storm
—P184.5 million – provided by the DILG, part of the PHP230 million in financial assistance it gave to all local government units hit by Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) under its Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda, funds were used to repair city or municipal buildings, public markets, and civic centers
The report noted: “The city government earlier submitted its Post-disaster Needs Assessment to rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson, whose powers do not include implementing programs, indicating that the city would need more than PHP20 billion for rehabilitation.”
But, as the report said, although Lacson had told city officials that the request for PHP20 billion was approved, they city has not yet gotten the amount.
Meanwhile, the report pointed out that “based on the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub, a government website that tracks down pledges and donations from foreign governments, the government received more than PHP71 billion in foreign aid pledges and more than PHP44 billion in cash donations.”
The report said that “the website, however, didn’t say how the donations were spent by the government.
Screengrab from Gov.ph
