PNoy: P6.1B in gov't funds allotted for Zamboanga rehabilitation

President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday committed P6.1 billion in government funds for the rehabilitation of Zamboanga City, parts of which became the battleground between government and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces.

During a press congference on Thursday, Aquino said the government will need around P3.89 billion to help Zamboanga get back on its feet.

"P3.89 billion ang tinatayang kailangan nating gastusin [pero] meron na tayong nakahanda na P6.1 billion, so may sobra pa," he said.

"This is just a rough estimate and what I’d like to assure the people is we have the necessary funds on hand already to take care of that," he added.

He said the money will be sourced from contingency and calamity funds, both of which have been the subject of criticism amid the pork barrel fund scam.

The President said the money will be used for housing or shelter assistance, continued relief assistance, education assistance, a supplementary feeding program, and livelihood assistance.

'Fair coverage'

Malacañang, for its part, appealed for a more "fair" coverage of the situation in Zamboanga City.
 
"We have addressed and attended to so many families in Zamboanga City and we just ask for...fair coverage," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said during a separate press conference earlier in the day.

He said the media should not emphasize the few who were not fed compared to the thousands who were helped by the government.

"Please feature the many thousands of people whom this government, through the DSWD, has been attending [to]," he said.

"Tingnan naman po niyo ‘yung nagawa ng gobyerno," added Aquino.

Evacuees

Lacierda said there are a total of 23,794 families with 118,819 individuals who have been affected by the crisis, 89 percent of whom were displaced and are staying inside evacuation centers, while 1,790 families opted to stay with relatives or friends in safer places.

He said there are 57 evacuation centers housing 21,261 families or 112,961 individuals.

The largest of these is the Joaquin F. Enriquez sports complex, also known as the Grandstand, which holds 63 percent of the total number of families inside the evacuation centers.

Lacierda alsosaid that the DSWD is conducting a computerized profiling of displaced families as basis for the allocation of relief and other forms of assistance.

Aside from this, Lacierda said the Department of Social Welfare and Development, through a number of food service providers in the city, is providing 70,000 ready-to-eat packed foods for every meal daily.

On the other hand, he said the community kitchen of the City Social Welfare Development Office is providing 12,000 food packs three times a day while the Philippine Red Cross, International Community of the Red Cross, and Western Mindanao State University are helping cook dinners for 10,000 individuals.

"We’d like to thank the many men and women who have served the evacuees, the men and women of the DSWD, and also the men and women who have volunteered their services to help the evacuees inside the evacuation centers, and those who have volunteered to cook for the foods that we have just mentioned for the evacuees," he said.

Meanwhile, Lacierda reiterated their earlier statement that they are also addressing the concerns of the police and military.

"We would just like to assure the public that our soldiers are not being neglected," he said. — BM, GMA News