Tolentino bats for creation of Phil Disaster Reconstruction Agency

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, Feb. 9 (PNA) – Senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino said he will come up with a law creating a Philippine Disaster Reconstruction Agency if he wins the May 9 elections.

The former chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) was in this city on Monday ahead of campaign period kick off.

Speaking to reporters, Tolentino noted that while the Philippines has a National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), what it lacks is a program on recovery and reconstruction.

Three months after a calamity, everything should be restored to normalcy. I landed this morning at Ormoc airport and I saw that it is still damaged from typhoon Yolanda. The repair of such facility should not be prolonged,” he explained.

Tolentino said he patterned his idea after Japan where an agency is tasked to do the cleanup and restoration of infrastructure. “In Japan, they have the Japanese Disaster Reconstruction Agency. Three months after the tsunami, everything is back to normal,” he said, referring to the 2011 calamity in that country.

After super typhoon Yolanda on 2013, the MMDA led by Tolentino was among the first organizations that responded in Ormoc. The agency provided a generator at City Hall that allowed the City Council to hold a special session the day after the disaster.

The MMDA also cleared the path leading to Petron depot in Linao village to allow the passage of fuel tankers. “My team stayed here for five days before proceeding to Tacloban to clear the highway,” 

Tolentino said. In Tacloban, he was inflicted with Chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.

Another law Tolentino will work on is the automatic reimbursement on expenses incurred by local governments utilizing their five percent calamity fund. Every peso and centavo spent by a local government from the calamity fund should be reimbursed by NDRRMC so that the money remains intact for future use,” he stressed.

As a three-term mayor of Tagaytay City, Tolentino claims to have a soft spot for local government concerns and vows to support their causes including Ormoc’s. “Ormoc has a huge potential,” he said.

“We hope to revive the airport here. I’m batting for community airports as part of tourism. The mayor here told me that Lake Danao ca be a tourism destination.” (PNA)
RMA/SQM/FNC/egr