If there’s something to be said about the second year anniversary of the devastation caused by Supertyphoon Yolanda in Central and Eastern Visayas, it’s that it had allowed top government officials to become grateful and conciliatory.
Last Sunday, the Palace again thanked all local and international donors for helping the government rebuild the lives of the thousands of victims who suffered from the wrath of the supertyphoon that is still considered the strongest in the country’s history and ranks among the top 10 natural calamities in the world.
Last year, the government showed its gratitude by installing electronic billboards that bore a “thank you” message in the US as well as in Asian and European countries.
The show of gratitude was also echoed by Tacloban Mayor Alfred Rodriguez who apologized for criticizing the national government’s slow action on the sufferings of his constituents whose homes became ground zero for Yolanda’s path of destruction.
The mayor expressed his thanks to the Aquino administration, but the President skipped the ceremonies held in Tacloban for the second year in a row in favor of attending the wedding of a tycoon’s son.
Considering that Tacloban is ruled by the Romualdezes, who are bitter political enemies of the Aquinos, it may explain the President’s absence.
That militant groups also used the occasion to denounce the government’s slow pace of rehabilitation also doesn’t provide incentive for President Aquino to show up for the annual observance.
Romualdez also has every reason to be thankful not only to the government but also to private sector and international donors. Two years after the disaster, the mayor can ill afford to harbor grudges.
After all, it was Tacloban that received the lion’s share of the government’s, private sector’s and international community’s assistance, sometimes to the detriment of other areas that were just as devastated, if not more so like Samar and northern Cebu.
In Cebu, that conciliatory mood certainly won’t be in the minds of a lot of mayors who belong to the opposition One Cebu party. In fact their standard-bearer Winston Garcia recently came out with his own exposé of sorts about two consultancy contracts that he claimed were anomalous.
But that’s for another time. What is clear is that like in Tacloban and other areas where Yolanda destroyed homes and lives, the rebuilding effort will take at least four years or a good chunk of the presidency of whoever will be elected next.
There will be questions about the massive reconstruction program set by this administration.
But now that there is some semblance of conciliation at this point in time, whoever will become president can ill afford to overhaul this program unless there are serious questions about its conduct and content.