PASAY CITY, Dec. 18 (PIA)--President Benigno S. Aquino III assured that the government is rebuilding a stronger, better and more resilient communities in areas devastated by typhoon Yolanda
In his speech during the briefing for Philippine Development Partners on Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda, the President said that expects the reconstruction and rebuilding efforts in areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda to be finished by 2017.
The President also assured foreign donors that every dollar of funding assistance will be used in as efficient and lasting a manner as possible.
He also bared that the government’s determination to rebuild a stronger, better, and more resilient communities resulted in the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda plan, or RAY.
Aquino said that RAY plan considers the rehabilitation and reconstruction of a number of key areas that include housing, infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries, livelihood and business, health, education and other essential services.
“As we are constructing bunkhouses to serve as temporary shelters for families, we are planning the construction of resilient, permanent housing communities in safe zones,” Aquino said.
Aquino said that infrastructure will not just be repaired or rebuilt, but will be bolstered; built to be stronger and able to withstand the onslaught of disasters.
“To revive agriculture and fisheries, which employs a large part of our countrymen in the Visayas: government will be there every step of the way—from restoring the viability of farmlands, to rebuilding or replacing assets that the storm destroyed, to providing inputs to restart farming and fishing,” Aquino said.
“We will also train farmers and fishermen to give them new skills—all this, towards greater productivity and income diversification,” Aquino added.
Aquino said that for livelihood and business, cash for work programs, the opening of lines of credit, and mechanisms for financing and support for MSMEs will be made available to help Filipinos recover, while the government work with private partners to attract investments in affected areas and build a more inclusive local economy.
The President also assured that the delivery of health, education, and other essential services will remain constant in areas hit by Yolanda, as the government repair and rebuild affected public infrastructure.
The President said that recovery and reconstruction will be done in cumulative, overlapping phases to meet immediate needs, and to make the transition not just towards full normalcy, but to an improved state.
“We project that by the first quarter of next year, the need for humanitarian response will be filled. From now until December 2014, we will be preoccupied with critical, immediate investments, such as the rebuilding and repair of infrastructure and the construction of temporary housing. Larger investments will be spread over multiple years, and will hopefully be completed by 2017, if not earlier,” Aquino said.
The President also justified the appointment of former Senator Panfilo Lacson as the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery whose main responsibility is to focus solely on the task at hand and see that goals on rebuilding and rehabilitation of the typhoon Yolanda devastated communities are met. (PIA-NCR/RJB/SDL)
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