PRESS STATEMENT
07 November 2016
Urge Yolanda fund audit, Scrapping of Tide Embankment Project Among other Urgent Demands
TACLOBAN CITY. An alliance of Yolanda survivors and their partner non-government organizations urge the Duterte administration to conduct a thoroughgoing audit and accounting of Yolanda funds, including more than P100 billion worth of foreign loans , as well as the reconstruction projects in the face of mounting complaints and evidence that the implementation of Yolanda relief and reconstruction projects were very late, slow, inadequate and riddled with allegations and incidents of anomalies and irregularities. Common complaints were the serious delays and selectivity in the distribution of the Emergency Social Assistance (ESA), the shortage of permanent housing in resettlement areas, and the planned construction of big-ticket controversial infrastructure projects such as the Tide Embankment Project in Tacloban City.
The Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP), a newly-formed alliance of 163 community organizations and 9 non-government organizations (NGOs) gathered together in a national workshop to reflect on and draw lessons from their experiences in Yolanda response and reconstruction for the past 3 years. In a national workshop called “Learning Lessons Celebrating Gains and Deepening Community Resilience” last November 6-7. the alliance urged President Duterte to stop and scrap the reported PhP7.9B Tide Embankment Project and construct climate-resilient evacuation centers and permanent settlements for vulnerable communities. The proposed project were allegedly hatched behind the people’s back, without their knowledge, access to information and beyond their scrutiny. The affected communities will be displaced without clear relocation where they can live in peace, safety and dignity.
CYSP expressed high hopes from its experiences of robust, and speedy responses by Malacanang to the series of meetings and engagements the coalition has undertaken in relation to its campaigns for Justice for Yolanda affected communities, and its efforts to press the Duterte government to take action on what it considers as lingering and major issues: the lack of a central management for disaster response and climate action nationwide, the absence of a clear accounting of the Yolanda funds and expenditures and the serious lack of people’s consultation in relation to the rebuilding of their lives and communities.
CYSP recently participated in the pre-summit for Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction and Climate Change Adaptation last September 23, at Malacanang and a broader national summit held in Cebu on October 6-7, 2016. These initiatives were organized by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, the Climate Change Commission and the Office of the Civil Defense, as well as other agencies.
The aforementioned national gatherings on Yolanda, disaster, climate issues such as the Malacanan pre-summit were the result of sustained lobby efforts by the CYSP and the responsiveness of the current administration. They were important but initial steps that provided the survivors with a platform to present a grounded assessment of the state of reconstruction of Yolanda-affected areas. The national summit in Cebu, on the other hand was an important venue for government to get the learnings from the Yolanda experience in crafting a more effective disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures,” CYSP added.
The CYSP is looking forward to meeting with the various national agencies, the office of the Cabinet secretary and no less than President Duterte himself who were all invited to the ongoing national workshop in Tacloban. CYSP will seek an audience with President Duterte during his scheduled visit to Tacloban on November 8 in order to convince him on the need and urgency to establish a national disaster superbody under the helm of the office of the Chief Executive. CYSP will also reiterate the crucial need for a comprehensive audit of Yolanda finance and projects, more so in the light of recent disclosures by the Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo that at least 200,000 survivors were excluded from ESA. The audit is also urgent as it will yield important information on the Yolanda available resources which may still be used for the remaining needs for Yolanda reconstruction.
CYSP will also reiterate its call for an immediate issuance of an Executive Order that will institute the creation of a central authority to coordinate and manage disaster and climate –related actions and responses.
The CYSP: Aside from 163 community organizations of survivors, CYSP is composed of 9 NGOs that are Philippine partners of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP)/ Caritas Canada. These CCODP partners at the forefront of Yolanda response and reconstruction include:
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines—National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-NASSA/ Caritas Philippines),
Agri-Aqua Development Coalition (AADC),
Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC),
Community Organizers Multiversity (COM),
Focus on the Global South,
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC),
Philippine Educational Theater for the Arts (PETA),
Urban Poor Associates (UPA),
Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services (RIGHTS, Inc.).