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Friday, March 29, 2024

Rody: Repeal calamity law

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Blames its required damage report for delay in declaring state of calamity

President Rodrigo Duterte called on Congress to amend a law that requires him to wait for the report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council before he can declare a state of calamity.

Duterte, who earlier apologized for the delay in his declaration of a state of calamity in six regions devastated by Typhoon Odette, blamed the provision in his Talk to the People late Monday evening.

“What fool will be able to immediately come up with the required assessment so that there would be a declaration,” he said, adding that the NDRRMC was “busy rescuing [survivors] and retrieving the dead.”

“That law should be changed, and it behooves upon this Congress, if they want to, or the next President, may I advise, [to] try to repeal the law so that assessment will no longer be required,” Duterte added.

Odette first made landfall in Mindanao on December 16 before it barreled across Visayas, leaving close to 400 dead and displacing almost a million people.

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The President, however, was only able to declare a state of calamity on Dec. 21.

The declaration allows local governments to tap calamity funds, imposes a price freeze on basic goods, and facilitates foreign aid in recovery efforts, among others.

“[For] the critics, we are always wrong, and they are always right,” the President added, as he lamented that his hands were tied by law’s provision.

“That is why it’s a stupid thing. I have to wait for the report, assessment before I can act on a proclamation. That’s the law so I can’t do anything,” Duterte said in an earlier command conference in Cebu.

Under Republic Act No. 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, the NDRRMC first has to make an assessment and recommendation to the President for the declaration of a state of calamity.

Duterte said he has ordered the release of P5,000 per family displaced by Odette.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said a joint circular providing guidelines for the distribution of cash assistance in typhoon-hit areas has been issued.

He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government will distribute around P4 billion worth of cash aid that will be releases today (Tuesday) to local government units.

This will bring the total funds released by the government to typhoon survivors to P6 billion.

Acting Budget Secretary Tina Canda said the department already released P1 billion on Friday and added another P1 billion yesterday.

Duterte earlier promised to raise P10 billion for Odette recovery efforts.

Canda said the remaining P4 billion would come from next year’s national budget, which is expected to be signed on Tuesday.

This is apart from $106.5 million (about P5.35 billion) the United Nations has pledged to raise for the country, targeted towards 530,000 people in the worst-affected areas who are in dire need of health logistics, access to drinking water, and sanitation facilities.

The United States government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), also said Monday it is providing an additional P50 million ($1 million) to support communities affected by Odette.

This funding is in addition to the initial P10 million ($200,000) in assistance provided by the United States on December 22 to support the Philippine government’s relief efforts.

The assistance will provide logistics support to transfer humanitarian workers and relief supplies to communities devastated by Typhoon Odette, the US embassy in Manila said in a statement.

“The United States is pleased to provide this additional assistance to support the immediate needs of individuals and families in the areas hardest hit by Typhoon Odette,” said US Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava.

“This support will help ensure that food and other life-saving supplies reach communities most in need.”

With nine landfalls, Odette left more than 380 people dead, damaged tens of thousands of homes, displaced some 630,000 people, and disrupted power and telecommunications service in six regions.

The government reported that the death toll from Odette had reached 389 by Monday, as disease outbreaks threatened some of the stricken areas.

As the government rushed to bring food, water and clothing to devastated areas, a new threat appeared in recent days with at least 140 people falling ill from suspected contaminated water.

Eighty people were taken ill with acute gastroenteritis in the southern province of Dinagat Islands, while 54 people are being treated for diarrhea in hospital on the neighboring tourist island of Siargao, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

The central city of Cebu reported 16 diarrhea cases, she told reporters.

“We all know these areas suffered water interruption. Some areas still have tap water but pipes have been damaged and so there is a possibility of contamination,” Vergeire said.

Vergeire said the typhoon also spoiled more than 4,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and damaged 141 hospitals and clinics, only 30 of which have resumed full operations.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it has delivered over 2.376 million pounds of relief goods to provinces battered by Typhoon Odette.

In a statement on Sunday night, the AFP said a total of 15 aircraft and 13 naval vessels have been used in its humanitarian operations.
Navy vessels have transported the bulk of the goods at 2.190 million pounds so far, while Air Force air assets that include one C-130 and eight S-70i Blackhawk helicopters have flown over 186,282 pounds of relief.

The AFP also reported providing transportation assistance to 394 locally stranded people.

In his Christmas message, AFP chief Lt. Gen Andres Centino asked for prayers for the survivors of the typhoon, as well as for soldiers deployed for disaster response and security operations nationwide.

Meanwhile, the AFP, through the Philippine Navy and Western Command, airdropped Christmas goods to the military personnel deployed in various detachments and stations in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).

An AgustaWestland 109 (AW-109) naval helicopter onboard BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) delivered relief packs from Palawan Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office for the residents of Pagasa Island.

The same naval asset airdropped Noche Buena packages, including the traditional lechon to the troops in KIG. BRP Mangyan (AC-71) delivered the same Christmas packages to the troops in Rizal Reef Detachment.

A Philippine Coast Guard vessel also met with BRP Antonio Luna and delivered the package for the troops of BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) in Ayungin Shoal.

Meanwhile, survivors of the 2013 Super Typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City and nearby towns were rushing to the devastated Southern Leyte to bring emergency relief to victims of Typhoon Odette.

Tacloban Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin thanked those who responded to the call to help the people of Southern Leyte, saying it was the turn of Taclobanons to help.

“May we continue to reach out to them in these trying times. They need all the help we can give. We know fully well. We’ve been there before,” Yaokasin added.

On Dec. 22 alone, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez led the relief efforts to San Juan as the city also received “overwhelming love and help” from Southern Leyte after Yolanda.

Leyte-based relief group Sprouts PH, together with Rotaract Club of Tacloban and other organizations, also launched an emergency response to the towns of Mahaplag, Sogod, Libagon, Tomas Oppus, Malitbog, Padre Burgos, Macrohon and Maasin.

“Most of the town areas have access to water but [it’s] not potable. Coastal areas are 90 percent totally damaged. The whole province is in dire need of solar lamps, panels and flashlights,” said Janelle Carlos of Sprouts PH.

Other private groups, like the BGT Cares Foundation of Leyte businessman Bernie Tacoy, launched their own relief activities in different parts of Southern Leyte and Leyte provinces.

“So much work to do and help to give in Southern Leyte,” said Gorg Ryan Requiez, a Yolanda survivor in Palo town who worked with his fellow students and youth groups for a rapid relief response in Libagon.

Typhoon Odette (international name Rai) struck the south and center of the country on Dec. 16 and 17, toppling power lines and trees and unleashing deadly floods that also left hundreds of thousands homeless.The civil defense office in Manila raised the death toll from Odette to 388 with 60 others missing and hundreds injured. Police previously put the death toll at 375.

Civil defense officials said more than 4 million people were receiving typhoon aid in 430 cities and towns where about 482,000 houses were damaged or destroyed.

More than 300,000 people remain in evacuation camps, with more than 200,000 others sheltering in the homes of relatives or friends.

Some survivors have likened Odette to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which left 7,300 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in 2013 and remains the country’s deadliest on record.

The Philippines gets hit by an average of 20 cyclones each year.

A congressman from a devastated province on Monday asked government agencies involved in relief efforts to verify reports that relief goods are being repacked by some unscrupulous politicians who use packing materials that bear their names and pictures.

At the same time, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte expressed gratitude to groups and government agencies that extended help to the province.

Barbers urged the Departments of the Interior and Local Government and of Social Welfare and Development as well as the Presidential Anti-corruption Commission to look into reports in social media that relief goods delivered to the province are allegedly being repacked by some unscrupulous politicians before distributing these to typhoon victims.

If proven true, Barbers said the agencies should immediately file cases against these politicians.

“This is not the time to advance political interests. Our people need aid and life savers, not political gimmicks. Let us put the interest of people above all else and put order in the distribution system. In our Asian neighbors, people line up and wait,” Barbers said.

He added: “No names or pictures of politicians appear on the boxes and bags of relief goods. We must emulate these disciplined practices and set good examples to our constituents.”

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