Tacloban vice mayor says Roxas ‘did his best’ during, after ‘Yolanda’

TACLOBAN CITY, March 30 (PNA) -– The second highest official in this city reiterated his observation that presidential bet Mar Roxas did not waste any time helping disaster victims in the immediate aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda.

Reacting to reports that a comic book depicting Roxas as a hero has drawn flak from netizens, Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin said that Roxas exerted all efforts on post-Yolanda relief operations. “Considering the magnitude of the disaster, it was a no-win situation for Mar.” 

Yaokasin is running unopposed in his bid for a fresh term. 

He was one of the elected officials of Tacloban together with lawyer and Councilor Jerry Uy who was always present during the coordination meetings conducted daily by then Interior and Local Government Secretary Roxas for two weeks after Yolanda. 

The coordination meetings aimed to fast track relief operations, security, bank operations, communication facilities, rehabilitation, management of the dead, migration of survivors to Manila or Cebu, medical missions, and the coordination with the international humanitarian organizations among others and created the relief hubs of the cities of Tacloban, Ormoc and Guiuan, Eastern Samar. 

The national government in the coordination meetings also created the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH) where all foreign donations were accounted for. 

“If I was Secretary Roxas, I could make a fuzz out of it, or made it known that Romualdez only arrived in Tacloban on November 4, 2013, while other local government units were already busy preparing for its constituents’ safety and evacuation,” said a retired banker who refused to be named.

She recalled that Romualdez was also hard-headed and instead spent at his beach house after roving the city and didn’t evacuate his family to safer grounds. 

“Romualdez also left the city and his people in a huff after Yolanda. But like a true statesman, Roxas didn’t make it an issue or was not politicking,” she added.

Yaokasin said that Roxas was in Tacloban during those crucial times after Yolanda. “Whatever we say now will be prone to misinterpretations because it’s campaign period.” 

“But I stand that Secretary Mar and the national government did its best and what it can, after that catastrophe,” he told PNA. 

Roxas received a lot of flak from netizens after a comic book on his life was released on Sunday depicting him as hero during and after super typhoon Yolanda. The comic book was released during the Liberal Party’s rally in Imus, Cavite. (PNA)
FFC/SQM/VICKY C. ARNAIZ