AN environmental group has asked President Duterte to freeze all projects and policies that threaten to displace the victims of Yolanda and other disasters.
The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) issued the plea on the eve of the third anniversary of Yolanda, which killed at least 8,000 people, ruined hundreds of thousands of houses and destroyed the livelihoods of more than a million people in Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Panay and even Region 4-B, or the Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan region.
“The no-dwelling zones and the Leyte Tide Embankment Project poses threats of displacement to Yolanda and other disaster survivors, and must, thus, be suspended until a program to ensure adequate and climate-resilient homes for the threatened communities is put in place. These measures that are supposed to mitigate disaster impacts of the scale of Yolanda should be subjected to scientific study and genuine public consultation or else they should be scrapped. With various climate injustices persisting three years after Yolanda, it is a welcome reprieve for survivors if threats of displacement were stopped by President Duterte,” said Leon Dulce, campaign coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
Dulce thanked both the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) and the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (Pcup) for taking the initiative to address the plight of disaster survivors.
However, he criticized some agencies for working at cross-purposes with the initiatives undertaken by the DSWD and Pcup.
Social Work Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo earlier exposed the fact that 200,000 Yolanda survivors were unjustly denied emergency shelter assistance (ESA) by the Aquino administration.
Moreover, Taguiwalo revealed initial findings of an ongoing investigation that showed DSWD Memorandum Circular 24 created serious problems on the distribution of ESA funds.
Pcup, now under former Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan, said during a housing and resettlement forum held by environment and survivors’ groups that it will fully utilize its mandate to deny the participation of the National Police in demolitions without adequate relocation and will embark on a massive education drive in urban-poor communities on climate justice.
“There are initiatives from agencies, such as the DSWD and PCUP, to consult Yolanda survivors and investigate their lingering problems. But the Department of Public Works and Highways opposes these initiatives by pushing the Leyte Tide Embankment Project through, even if it threatens to displace thousands and possibly destroy mangrove expanses and other important natural buffers. Meanwhile, the government still has no technically sound guidelines in ensuring no-dwelling zones do not displace communities to even more hazardous situations,” Dulce explained.
The DPWH announced earlier this year that it will already begin construction of some parts of the 27.3-kilometer tide embankment project proposed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Apart from presenting socioeconomic and ecological risks, the project is also in conflict with the existing P38-million mangrove-rehabilitation project of the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“With conflicting rehab programs from the different agencies, it is only proper for the Duterte administration to put a freeze order on supposed disaster-mitigating policies and projects that is expected to cause the dislocation of Yolanda survivors. Allow the DSWD, Pcup and other relevant agencies to conclude their inquiries and justly resolve the complaints and petitions of survivors and environmental groups first. The Leyte Tide Embankment Project is, in fact, being petitioned to have its environmental compliance certificate revoked,” Dulce said.