CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas said yesterday Pres. Aquino should take the blame and assume responsibility on the unprecedented flooding in Central Luzon which has been blamed on the simultaneous releases of excess waters from six dams affecting Bulacan and Pampanga.
“Pres. Aquino who was missing in action at the height of typhoon Pedring and went on self-imposed hiatus since he arrived from a state visit in Japan should take the blame and assume full responsibility,” Pamalakaya said in a statement.
Pamalakaya national vice chairperson Salvador France said, “everything the President’s subordinates do has his seal of approval or go signal and therefore, he cannot escape responsibility as the current version of Great Deluge continue to ravage the coastal towns of the region.”
France said the President should explain why the six government dams “released excess waters without any benefit of assessment and well-placed planning.”
Malacañang earlier announced it would ask the Pagasa weather to explain the releases of the water from dams that caused widespread flooding in the region.
Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Science and Technology undersecretary Graciano Yumul, who supervises Pagasa would be asked to explain.
But Pamalakaya said “this is Palace fault-finding operation at its best. The Palace is now scouting for someone who should be blamed for face saving.”
“Malacañang will soon fire undersecretary Yumul as a logical conclusion to keep Aquino away from the spotlight of wholesale condemnation and maintain his Yellow halo and saintly Yellow image to the general public,” the Pamalakaya leader added.
Josefina Timoteo, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Central Luzon, has reported that hundreds of residents of Candaba, Arayat, San Simon and Masantol towns in Pampanga and Calumpit and Hagonoy in Bulacan were isolated by unprecedented floodings and were awaiting rescue.
At the same time, Pamalakaya urged lawmakers to convert the P39-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) fund of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) into an economic relief and rehabilitation fund for all victims of typhoon Pedring.
The militant group said the P39-billion CCT fund this year could “serve better purpose if it would be channeled to economic relief and rehabilitation programs of agricultural and fishery regions and provinces hit by typhoon Pedring like Isabela, Aurora, Central Luzon and Southern Luzon provinces.
“In Central Luzon, about P 4.191 billion of agricultural crops and fisheries were destroyed by typhoon Pedring. In Nueva Ecija, damage to palay crop was pegged at P2.867 billion.
The militant group suggested that the P39-B CCT fund be transformed and allocated as follows: P19 billion for the rehabilitation aid in the form of grants and subsidies to small farmers and fisherfolk;
P10 billion for housing rehabilitation and construction of damaged schools, and; P10 billion for social service fund and additional budget for public health care.
