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| Gov. Victor A. Tanco speech during the Tindog! The Capiznon Resiliency: Light and Images 100 Days after Yolanda Photo Exhibit at Robinsons Place Roxas, February 13. |
ROXAS City – Eight months after supertyphoon Yolanda struck Capiz, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) approved last Friday the province’s P12-billion recovery and rehabilitation plans (RRP).
Capiz Gov. Victor A. Tanco disclosed that after Yolanda rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson approved the RRP for Capiz, it will be presented to President Benigno Aquino III for final approval.
He said Capiz’s rehabilitation plan, and those of Aklan, Antique and Negros Occidental, were not included in the provinces with approved plans as announced by the President in his State of the Nation Address last July 28, for these were submitted late.
“The submission got delayed because some local government units presented its RRPs late,” Tanco said.
Tanco presented the RRP to Lacson, and to Secretaries Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority, Florencio Abad of the Department of Budget and Management, Rogelio Singson of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Dinky Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Tanco said the province’s RRP was initially pegged at P19 billion but was reduced to P12 billion.
He said the allocated amount will not go directly to the provincial government. It will not also be given in cash but in the form of projects to be undertaken by various government agencies, he added.
Yolanda’s damage to infrastructures, agriculture and fishery sectors amounted to a total of P8.86 billion.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) data showed that about P4.27 billion worth of infrastructure projects have been damaged by the typhoon. The PDRRMC also reported P3.8 billion and P759 million losses in agriculture and fisheries sector, respectively.
Mambusao town in the Second District posted the highest amount of damaged infrastructure amounting to P1.18 billion
Pilar town in the First District reported the highest losses in agriculture with P484 million while Panay town in the First District reported the highest losses in fisheries with P214 million.
In the same report, the PDRRMC said 72 persons died, one still missing and 2,764 got injured during the onslaught of the super typhoon.
All the 473 villages of Capiz and Roxas City have been greatly affected by the typhoon, it added. (The Daily Guardian/Felipe Celino)
