Tag Archives: Haiyan

PHILIPPINE AGENCIES HELD ON TO ‘HAIYAN’ RELIEF FUNDS, THINKING THEY WERE ‘RESERVE’ FUNDS

September 9, 2014 Pol Pinoy 1 Comment

File photo: a message in chalk from typhoon Haiyan victims

Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Some 1.58 Billion pesos in typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) relief funds remained unspent in the hands of several Philippine government agencies, according to a report by the country’s Commission on Audit.

The funds were part of donations given by governments and private individuals and groups to help victims of the worst typhoon ever to make landfall in the Philippines. Haiyan’s first year anniversary is coming up. To this day, many typhoon victims remain homeless, without jobs or still waiting for financial aid and support services.

In defending government agencies like the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Health, Interior and Local Govenrments, Public Highways, and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Office of the President said that at the time of the audit, the government was waiting to first spend the calamity funds under the General Appropriations before it touched the privately-donated relief funds.

In addition to the donated funds, an investigation is ongoing regarding millions of pesos worth of food and other relief goods that were spoiled and never reached the typhoon victims.

In ‘off-the-record’ conversations between presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma and Malacañang (presidential palace) reporters, he admitted that the heads of government agencies concerned innocently thought the donations were ‘reserve’ funds, not relief funds. “They were savng them for a rainy day,” he said. Or perhaps, the next typhoon.

Now we know.

Human Interest, International, Politics, The Media

AQUINO: SOMEONE MESSED WITH MY DESK CALENDAR

June 2, 2014 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Just as more than 20 million students trekked to public schools nationwide for the beginning of the schoolyear, the Aquino administration announced it was releasing One Billion pesos for the repair of schoolbuildings damaged by last year’s powerful typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

Many of the students will be returning to schools without roofs, without desks and chairs, and in many cases without walls. Some will be packed into small rooms like sardines and others will have to squat under trees in the open to receive academic instruction.

A familiar sight millions of students will be returning to this new schoolyear in the Philippines

School administrators, teachers, parents and students immediateky criticized President Aquino for the much-delayed release of funds, coming more than six months after the devastating typhoon, and not in time for the beginning of the new schoolyear.

Aquino, known for consistenty blaming anyone and everyone for missteps, failures and inefficiencies of his administration, defended himself against critics by saying that someone messed with his desk calendar in his office in Malacañang (Philippine presidential palace).

A palace spokesperson said that Aquino’s desk calendar showed that it was only January 2, not June 2, when he authorized the release of funds. So to Aquino’s mind, there were at least five months remaining before the new schoolyear, leaving enough time for the repairs and construction to be made.

Malacañang has ordered an investigation on who was responsible for altering the president’s desk calendar.

International, Politics

FILIPINOS ISSUE ONE LAST APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

November 16, 2013 Pol Pinoy 13 Comments

A man paints a message on a baskeball court that reads 'Help SOS We Need Food' at Anibong in Tacloban Photograph: NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images — A man paints a message on a basketball court that reads ‘Help SOS We Need Food’ at Anibong in Tacloban Photograph: NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Image

Tacloban, Philippines – The Filipino people are united in praising and thanking foreign governments and the international community for the overwhelming financial and in-kind support their country received, and continues to receive, in the aftermath of the most powerful typhoon of record that killed thousands, flattened homes and infrastructure, and turned once vibrant communities into ghost towns. In many instances, foreign rescue and relief personnel were first to arrive at the scenes of devastation, way ahead of teams dispatched by Manila’s government. In the first moments of the disaster, President Noynoy Aquino repeatedly criticized local governments for being unprepared for the super typhoon and for being unable to immediately respond to its deadly effects, especially in the hard-hit areas of Central Philippines.

Surviving individuals and families went without food, shelter and medical aid for days. Anger and frustration were evident among Filipinos trying to fend for themselves and struggling to flee their neighborhoods in search of relief, comfort and dignity. Cadavers remained uncollected, largely contributing to the unbearable stench of the national government’s relief and rescue operations. Meanwhile, Secretary of the Interior and Local Governments Mar Roxas kept repeating during media interviews that “everything was under control.” What little relief packages that were being distributed had stickers of the Office of Vice President Jejomar Binay plastered over them – a clever prelude to his expected campaign for the 2016 presidential elections.

The calamity hit the country at a time when massive dissatisfaction with the central government was rising at fever pitch, brought about by the pork barrel scandal that saw billions of taxpayer money going into the pockets of top politicians and their citizen cronies. Many calamity victims were quick to point out that the impact of the powerful typhoon could have been minimized had the pork barrel funds been spent as intended — to build public infrastructure and services that would have possibly put rescue and relief operations in times like these into place.

While the Filipino people continued to express their deep gratitude to the international aid they have received so far, they were one in making a last appeal which they described as their greatest, ultimate need. Today, in a unified message to the United Nations and through international media, the Filipinos appealed for a donation of a functioning government to replace the one that’s currently in place. “It would be the greatest gift of all, one that would put an end to decades of government corruption as well as suffering by the Filipino people,” they said.