BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson should have not accepted the government’s offer to become the super typhoon “Yolanda” rehabilitation czar, said Cong. Ronaldo Zamora, a member of the Joint Congressional Oversight on Public Expenditures Committee.
Lacson appeared to have no clear understanding of the task as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR), Zamora lamented.
More than a dozen government agencies have not yet submitted to the OPARR their post-disaster needs assessment on disaster-stricken areas in the Visayas.
Only the Public Works department has been coordinating with the OPARR.
“The line agencies, depending on who the head is, will cooperate or will not cooperate simply because they may or may not like (Lacson),” Zamora observed.
He reminded Lacson he has a “real job” and not just a “coordinating” or “staff job.”
Sen. Francis Escudero, co-chairman of the committee on public expenditures, said they will ask the government agencies for their recommendations.
“There is a lack of urgency to meet the problems head on and this is the biggest calamity,” the senator said.
He also said they even “fast-tracked” the funds allocation for the reconstruction and rehabilitation so the government can immediately address the needs of families and communities.
Lacson, on one hand, cleared that they are “on track” in their rehabilitation efforts.
“Hindi nga lang naha-highlight iyong mga success stories doon at ang naha-highlight iyong mga issues na lumalabas,” the former lawmaker said in a press briefing in Malacañang./PN
