ORDERS PERMANENT RELO OF VICTIMS
[PHOTO - Residents return
to their homes to save some household items Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 at Iligan city
in southern Philippines. Tropical storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating
the southern Philippines with flash floods that killed hundreds of people as
they slept and turned two coastal cities into a muddy wasteland filled with
overturned cars and uprooted trees. (AP Photo/Bullit
Marquez)]
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, DECEMBER
21, 2011 (STAR)By Norman
Bordadora - President Aquino on Tuesday declared a state of national
calamity and vowed to mobilize assistance for victims of the worst storm to hit
his presidency.
"I need to ask myself. Did the government do enough to prevent this kind of a
tragedy? I don't think I can accept that we have done everything," Aquino told
evacuees at the Cagayan de Oro Central School, during a lightning visit to the
disaster zone four days after Tropical Storm "Sendong" struck. "I know we could
have done more."
The President himself has been criticized for attending a Christmas party for
his Presidential Security Group Sunday night as Sendong rampaged across Mindanao
and the Visayas, igniting flash floods and causing death and destruction.
As of 6 a.m. Tuesday, the official death toll had reached 957. More than
340,000 people, or 63,000 families, have been displaced, according to the
National Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Council.
Officials have set up 62 evacuation centers, half of which are in the
worst-hit cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
"My concern right now is specifically those missing," said Aquino, who put
the number at 49. "Let us exhaust all possible means to try and find all of
these missing individuals," he told national and local officials at the base of
the Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Group 10.
The Philippine National Red Cross listed 713 deaths and 563 missing.
The President also stopped at Iligan and Dumaguete to inspect the devastation
and help distribute relief goods at the evacuation centers.
"We will be assisting not only Cagayan (de Oro) and Iligan, but also Negros
Oriental and Ilocos Norte, Iloilo. We'd like to assure you that we are going to
fine-tune all of the systems in place so that we can prevent similar tragedy
from happening."
The President said the calamity funds stood at P1.17 billion. He said he
declared the state of national calamity to start the mechanisms from which the
government could get additional relief funding.
"We can get P3 million from the (Asian Development Bank) while there are P500
million on standby that the World Bank would loan in case the funds that have
long been prepared for these kinds of calamity run short," he said.
"There are also offers of help from Japan, America, Australia, Russia, China
and other countries," he added.
Among the expected expenses are the repair of a vital bridgeway, which will
cost P54 million; the reconstruction and replacement of some components of the
water systems, P90 million; and a thousand automatic water level sensors for 18
major river basins, P150 million.
Many blame the high death toll to the lack of an early flood warning system.
The floodwaters rose swiftly, swallowing and devastating communities.
"The core shelter for both Cagayan (de Oro) and Iligan will be about P150
million," Mr. Aquino said.
"Plus, part of the reason that we're here is really to assess the need for
the houses, permanent houses. We don't have an estimate for that yet but there's
an initial 1,000 houses earmarked for Cagayan from the (National Housing
Authority)," he added.
The President said that he had formed a multi-agency task force that will
look into ways to improve the systems to alleviate the effects of natural
disasters.
"There is also going be a fact-finding team to determine exactly where we can
still augment the systems and procedures in place so that there are no
casualties of this magnitude ever again," he said.
"I think all of us are aware exactly of certain situations that have
happened, deforestation which has always been a problem," the President said.
"We have a geo-hazard map that identified Isla de Oro as a place that will be
a catch basin of floodwaters when a storm comes. Because we know the topography,
we have also identified places where the waters will quickly flow," he said.
"Why were there still residents in these places?" he added. "We don't have
any intention of fixing blame at this time. But it is our obligation to find out
what happened."
Aquino said he had instructed the Department of Interior and Local Government
and the Philippine National Police to prevent residents from returning to the
danger areas—such riverbanks.
"Going back to danger areas should no longer be permitted. I want that very
clear … no settlement in portions already described as extremely dangerous …
like Isla de Oro, and neighboring barangays," the President said.
"To prevent a repeat of this tragedy, we need to know where there were
shortcomings, who were at fault and how these should be made accountable," he
said, adding that he had ordered Mujiv Hataman, officer in charge of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, to stop illegal logging.
In Dumaguete, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said a family whose home
was partially damaged was eligible to get assistance worth P5,000 while families
whose homes were totally damaged could get up to P70,000 each.
Soliman said the money will be taken from the P4.1-million funding assistance
to be given on condition that the victims do not move back to the riverbanks.
With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Karen Boncocan in
Manila, and Alex Pal, Inquirer Visayas, in Dumaguete
Noy orders permanent relocation of CDO victims
Home Updated December 20, 2011 03:30 PM
A resident covers his nose as he passes by decomposed bodies in a
city garbage dump in Cagayan De Oro city, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. A funeral
parlor allegedly dumped about 30 badly decomposed bodies in the area over the
weekend, sparking protests from distraught villagers who were looking for
missing loved ones. AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo
Zoom MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III today bared the
government's plan to permanently relocate residents of Cagayan de Oro City, who
were displaced by flashfloods spawned by tropical storm Sendong.
With this, Aquino ordered the Department of Interior and Local Government
(DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to prevent the displaced
residents from returning to areas that have been declared as Cagayan de Oro's
danger zones.
"Going back to danger areas should no longer be permitted. I want that very
clear… (there should be) no settlement in portions already described as
extremely dangerous, …like Isla de Oro, and neighboring barangays…," the
President said in a briefing with government officials in the city this morning.
The DILG said the six danger areas include Sitio Kala-Kala and Sitio Tambo
both in Bgry. Makasandig, Isla de Oro in Bgry. 13, Isla Bugnaw in Brgy.
Consolacion and Isla Kupa located in Bgry. Consolation.
The President arrived in Cagayan de Oro Tuesday morning to assess the damage
of Typhoon Sendong and coordinate relief and assistance efforts by the
government. From there, Aquino proceeded to Iligan City, which was also heavily
devastated by the storm.
As of the government's last count this morning, the two cities have a
combined death toll of 858. Majority of those killed were residents of Cagayan
de Oro.
During the briefing, local officials raised their problems with the President
particularly on housing for the displaced residents. They are most concerned
with the displaced residents overstaying in schools, affecting the children's
education.
Based on recent figures by the local government, there are 8,000 evacuees in
Cagayan de Oro City.
The President said that there are 1,000 houses earmarked for Cagayan de Oro
by the National Housing Authority (NHA). However, he said the national
government has yet to determine where the fund for the construction of the new
houses can be sourced from.
Meanwhile, he said that the government may use its calamity fund to cover the
building of new houses.
During the briefing, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
said it would provide funds through its core shelter program so that evacuees
could permanently stay in new houses to be built for them.
The DSWD proposed to move the evacuees from schools to bigger grounds to ease
the congestion. The DSWD added that it is working with the NHA for temporary
shelters before evacuees are relocated to a permanent resettlement area.
Temporarily, the DSWD said it would erect tents in wide school grounds and in
areas to be identified by the local government in the next two weeks. The long
term goal is to remove them from the schools by January, it said.
Local officials proposed that the Upper Balunan near the airport in the city
and an area in the 42-hectare Upper Gusa near Philstate could be used as new
resettlement site for the evacuees.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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