‘Yolanda’ Summit to be Held in Cebu on Oct. 6-7

The administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte will hold a summit in Cebu on Oct. 6-7 to revisit the course of actions during super typhoon “Yolanda,” which will be part of the basis to formulate the Philippine Development Plan.

The summit will be held a month before the third anniversary of “Yolanda” which left more than 6,000 dead, many of them in Tacloban City, and devastated northern Cebu on Nov. 8, 2013.

Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. said the summit will be attended by government agencies, which were on the forefront of the search, rescue and relief operations.

These include the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Health, Department of National Defense, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Customs, among others.

Evasco said the multi-sectoral groups in the private sector, especially those who facilitated donations for the Yolanda victims, will be invited.

Evasco, who oversees 12 national government agencies by virtue of the first executive order issued by President Duterte, said the summit will reveal the total donation, in cash and in kind, the Philippines received from other countries.

He said it must be traced how much was received from the United, States, Japan, South Korea, Israel, China, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries.

It must also be traced who received it and in what capacity were they authorized to receive it.

It must also be traced how much donation was received from the private sector and who were the beneficiaries.

There were accusations that government officials, politicians and even leaders of private organizations had pocketed some of the donations for Yolanda victims.

Evasco said that when he went to Tacloban, most of the comments were that the government did not listen to the people’s clamor.

He said whatever inputs gathered in the summit will be used to create policies to avoid a repetition of the wrong actions of the previous government. (PNA) SCS/EB/PJN