We need to put the Yolanda tragedy behind us

ANOTHER case of aid to the victims of super-typhoon Yolanda that has not been received to this day, 23 months after the disaster in November, 2013, was reported the other day.

In response to an appeal from Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje, D.M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI) donated 500 fishing boats, each costing 18,000, for distribution to fishermen who had lost their means of the livelihood. The DENR asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for a list of beneficiaries, which was duly provided by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to the DILG in April, 2015. The list apparently never reached the DENR, so that the 500 fishing boats remain undistributed to this day.

But it is the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) which has borne the brunt of criticism for the government’s relief aid and rehabilitation program in Eastern Visayas. A Commission on Audit (COA) report issued September 10 said that 141 million worth of relief goods were stocked in DSWD warehouses until they reached their expiration dates. The COA report also cited anew its finding that

382 million in local and foreign cash donations for victims of Yolanda – 33 percent of the total 1.15 billion that DSWD received from donors – remain in DSWD’s bank accounts.

DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, in her response to the COA report, said there were no rotten goods left in DSWD warehouses. She said the COA was apparently referring to goods prepositioned at the department’s main warehouse in Pasay City intended for families affected by Mayon Volcano’s eruption in October, 2014. After the Mayon evacuees returned to their homes, she said, the remaining food stocks were distributed in Region 5 (Bicol) for Food-for-Work programs. No food was wasted, she said.

The report about rotten relief goods will have to be further looked into in view of the conflicting claims of COA and DSWD, but the COA finding that 382 million in Yolanda donations have just been kept in DSWD’s bank accounts needs to be explained by DSWD.

The devastation caused by super-typhoon Yolanda will long be remembered by the people of East Visayas, 6,193 of whom were killed, 28,689 were injured, and 1,061 remain missing to this day. The response from the rest of the country, from Filipinos around the world, and from governments and people of various countries was heart-warming.

We hope we can put closure to all these recurring complaints about misplaced funds, still homeless victims, and still struggling heads of families who lost their fishing boats and other means of livelihood. If all the government funds and all the aid from sympathetic people all over the country and all over the world could reach their proper beneficiaries, we can put the tragedy of Yolanda behind us and the whole country could move on.