Focus of the discussion was the Zamboanga siege
and the status of the Zamboanga City Roadmap to Recovery and Reconstruction
(Z3R) projects.
Accompanying Biazon during the meeting were
Congressmen Jose Christopher Belmonte of District 6, Quezon City ; Cong. Francis Ashley Acedillo of
Partylist Magdalo and Cong. Lilia Nuño.
“Your committee would like to make an assessment
of the rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery. Recovery includes a lot of
things especially the economic recovery,” Biazon said stressing that the
committee was in the city to listen and to know what legislative response it
can craft and put together in order to improve national response and the
capability of the local government units to respond to natural and man-made
disasters.
Biazon, a former chief of staff of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines prior to becoming a senator and later congressman,
believed unlike other disasters that happened in the country in 2013, the
Zamboanga siege, a man-made disaster was something that could have been
prevented.
“It is not the intention of the committee to make
any investigation unless something that needs to be corrected will be brought
up to the committee,” the Muntinlupa congressman said.
The meeting was highlighted by presentations on
the progress of the Z3R projects and recovery efforts and the challenges
besetting the different agencies in the implementation of the projects.
Mayor Climaco asked the Committee to help ask the
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the remaining amount in
the P3.5 billion funding for the Z3R before the end of 2014 and to call on the
Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to download as soon as possible the
P91 million as identified under the post conflict needs assessment.
The committee’s visit to the city was concluded
with a visit to the Z3R project sites together with personnel from the
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the National Housing
Authority (NHA) and other agencies. (111114)
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