Running Priest: Delay in Yolanda Rehab Fund a “Scandal”

Running priest Fr. Robert Reyes described the delay of the release of the post-Yolanda rehabilitation budget as a “scandal” and urged the national government to end all bureaucracy surrounding the issue.

Reyes, who made a stopover at the Capitol grounds after running from the City of Naga early morning Tuesday, said it is almost one year since Yolanda but only a few of the promised rehabilitation budget was released to the people.

He said it is not only “unfair” to the victims, it also a “scandal” that the government is orchestrating, thereby resulting to thousands of the victims still suffering from the effects of that supertyphoon.

The running priest noted that even the northern Cebu towns are victims of this bureaucracy as the P12.6 billion rehab budget, as promised, was still not released by the national government. There were 15 local governments in the north that were ravaged by Yolanda in November last year.

Reyes said the national government has so far given little assistance to survivors despite the available funds promised by President Aquino.

He said he did not understand why the delay of the funds release if Aquino is to be believed that these are already available.

He said the purpose of running from Carcar to Naga is also to support calls against the cutting of the Acacia trees there. Reyes is among those environmentalists who stopped the government from implementing the order to cut the century-old trees along the city of Naga and down Carcar.

Reyes started running from Carcar City the other day, and aimed to finish his “One Run Takbo ni Juan” event in Tacloban City today (Wednesday).

He was set to sail to Baybay, Leyte last night, and hoped to arrive on the island on the same day, where he would start running again towards Tacloban. Reyes is scheduled to plant, along with non-government organizations and the church, 8,000 tree seedlings, in remembrance to the 8,000 people who perished in the storm surge last year.

Image Credit: globalnation.inquirer.net