Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) Panfilo Lacson may have summed up the Aquino administration’s program for areas devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda when he said that he will recommend immediate aid to areas whose leaders have “done their homework” and came out with their own plan to help their battered constituents.
But he himself admitted that large scale, massive allocation of assistance won’t come until there is a clear national master plan that had been fully mapped out and submitted to the President for signing.
More than five months after Eastern and part of Central Visayas suffered from Yolanda’s wrath, the national government had yet to fully mobilize all its resources and personnel to help the typhoon victims in these areas.
Northern Cebu, which was assessed to be in the best position to recover from Yolanda’s devastation due to the strong private sector presence, was left to largely fend for itself.
President Aquino and his officials may have felt confident that the province can recover on its own due to the outpouring of support from major companies, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and the Cebuanos.
But they shouldn’t because the reconstruction cost as calculated by the Cebu provincial government runs to billions of pesos which the private sector and the Cebuanos cannot afford to do without sacrificing their bottom line.
One can only ask so much from the private sector groups who have expended much of their resources to help those in need. And isn’t it the government that is primarily tasked to help their constituents in need?
President Benigno Aquino III should not demand more from the private sector than his administration is ready or willing to commit to give and immediately extend as required not only by the law but by the Filipinos who voted him and his officials into office.
Too much time had already passed and even local officials in northern Cebu have already submitted their own recovery plans. It doesn’t take much staff and resources to verify whether their recovery plans are inadequate or geared towards failure and abuse.
What is taking the Aquino administration so long to respond, when nations all over the world had already given so much to help the typhoon victims? And why are they focusing so much of the country’s resources and attention on Tacloban City when there are still others out there in dire need of assistance?
We hold Lacson to his promise to recommend to his boss that he immediately help the people of northern Cebu. And the government should not leave it to the private sector to pick up the slack, which, in the first place, is its mandated duty.
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