MANILA: The Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) admitted yesterday that there is still no final and official rehabilitation master plan in place half a year after Typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas.
The joint congressional oversight committee on public expenditures learned that while some agencies have drawn up their respective plans, a formal consolidated master plan approved by all concerned offices has yet to be finalized.
“Categorically, no [we don’t have a final consolidated master plan] because we do not have all the submissions,” OPARR communications director Karen Jimeno told lawmakers during the joint congressional hearing.
Jimeno said under Republic Act 10121, the post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) to be prepared by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) under the Office of the Civil Defense shall be the basis for the rehabilitation master plan.
But the final version of the PDNA, however, is still unavailable because the NDRRMC has only submitted an initial draft.
As a “rough substitute” for the PDNA and to speed up the process, Jimeno said the OPARR formed five clusters - composed of different government agencies - for infrastructure, resettlement, social services, livelihood and support.
“We are trying a way wherein in spite of the absence of the PDNA, we can get, more or less, an accurate assessment of the budgetary needs per area of concern,” Jimeno said. But out of the five, Jimeno lamented that only the infrastructure cluster has submitted a report to OPARR chief Panfilo Lacson.
When grilled by Senator Chiz Escudero, Jimeno agreed that unless the reports are submitted to the OPARR and forwarded later to President Aquino, the remaining needed budget for the rehabilitation projects will not be released.
Saying the OPARR is only a coordinating body, Jimeno clarified that they do not have the authority to compel government agencies to cooperate with them.
“We can call on government agencies to coordinate with us... [but] we do not have police power to penalize them for not working with us,” Jimeno said.
The Philippine Star
