Lacson: No red tape in rehab efforts, please

It’s a challenge, former senator Panfilo Lacson said of his appointment as rehabilitation czar in typhoon-devastated Visayas.

As the lone guest at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday, Lacson unveiled his plans for the provinces ravaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” He sees his greatest challenge in the politics and dynamics of the project. Politicians, especially local government officials, may want to meddle in the rehabilitation, he said. “But I will talk to them and get their cooperation.”

He fears that the notorious bureaucratic red tape may slow down rehabilitation. In the awarding of projects, the law requires public biddings which could take an excruciatingly long time and he wants to finish the job in 2016 when P-Noy’s administration goes out. Lacson said, however, that he thinks the law is suspended in areas declared to be in a state of calamity.

To avoid the red tape in government, he wants the private sector to participate in the rehabilitation and he proposes to give them tax incentives to encourage them to participate. “What we may lose in revenue,” he said, “we will get back in savings on reconstruction as the private contractors will fund their own projects.”

Lacson sees his job as more of a coordinator and manager of all the government agencies and private developers that will be involved in the rehabilitation efforts. His models are the reconstruction of Hiroshima, destroyed by the first atomic bomb; of Warsaw, incinerated by fire bombing during World War II; and  of Banda Aceh in Indonesia which was destroyed by a tsunami. He is studying how Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gen. George C. Marshall of the Marshall Plan, and “Mr. Fix It” of Indonesia rehabilitated these cities.

Before accepting the job, Lacson said, he consulted with urban planners, architects, engineers, environmentalists, and other experts. He said that he hesitated when the job was offered to him because his expertise is on law enforcement, not rehabilitation—“but how can you refuse a President?” He said the experts told him that the job is “daunting but doable.”

One of the biggest problems, he said, was that the land titles of property owners were washed away by the storm surge. “How do you now determine the boundaries of their properties?” he asked. He said he talked to the Land Registration Authority and they assured him that the titles can be reconstituted.

With Tacloban, Guiuan, and other areas practically wiped off the map, Lacson sees an opportunity to build modern, well-planned cities like Canberra in Australia, Brasilia in Brazil and Islamabad in Pakistan which were built on vacant lands. “It is difficult to improve old cities because of the problems of land ownership and existing structures,” he said, “but with Tacloban and Guiuan, we are practically starting from scratch.”

First, there will have to be a new building code to make the houses and buildings indestructible during typhoons. The Philippines lies in the typhoon belt, and about 20 typhoons strike it every year, and typhoons are becoming progressively stronger because of climate change, he said. Houses made of wood or bamboo may no longer be acceptable in Tacloban and Guiuan. They have to be made of concrete. And definitely, houses have to be at least 50 meters away from the shorelines that have to be protected with stands of mangrove.

The government can pay the owners of shoreline properties with cash or exchange them with land further inland or with units in condominiums that will be built by developers.

With new, well-planned cities, the usual problems with old cities like traffic jams and slums can be avoided. He sees them with wide streets and wide tree-shaded sidewalks to encourage people to walk. He wants a minimum of traffic intersections to avoid traffic jams common in urban areas like Metro Manila. Instead he wants maximum use of underpasses and flyovers as in the planned cities of Canberra, etc.

He wants parks to make the cities pleasant places to live in and avoid concrete jungles.

Plenty of workers—carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, painters, laborers—will be needed in the reconstruction and Lacson wants the people of Leyte and Samar to have first priority in the hiring. He has proposed that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority hold crash training programs for inexperienced workers.

Residents have started rebuilding their homes. How would they fit in with the new plans, Lacson was asked.

“They will have to be temporary. That is why speed is needed in the planning,” he answered. “The bunkhouses are also temporary. The evacuees will have to move to their new homes once these are built.”

Lacson wants businessmen who have fled the typhoon-ravaged areas to return as soon as possible to normalize the situation. But investors were discouraged by the looting and the lack of security, he told the Kapihan audience.

He said some businessmen pointed out that looters were openly selling the goods they stole from their malls and stores. “The items still have our price tags,” they told him.

Lacson said his expertise is law enforcement and that he intends to use a “mailed fist” against lawbreakers.

He proposes that loans be given to the businessmen and the property owners so that reconstruction and rehabilitation can be speeded up.

He said he has not yet visited Samar and Leyte but as soon as he receives his formal appointment papers, he will go there to see the destruction and what needs to be done. He said he needs a staff of only 10—urban planners, engineers, architects, lawyers, financial experts, etc.—and he intends to hold office in Manila, but he would have deputies stationed on the ground in the storm-hit areas.