Lacson ill-suited for rehab task

Panfilo Lacson, the Aquino administration’s overall “manager and coordinator” of the reconstruction of areas devastated by monster Typhoon “Yolanda,” took office on Monday, in the midst of a tumultuous controversy between the national government and local authorities over Manila’s slow-motion relief and rehabilitation  assistance to the stricken communities.

The discordant note not only threatened to disrupt the reconstruction effort, but also cast serious doubt on Lacson’s competence to lead it, as the government shifted focus from providing relief goods and services—such as food, clothing, temporary shelter, medicines and emergency medical care to tens of thousands of Yolanda survivors—to rebuilding ruined infrastructure and human settlements.

Lacson attended his first Cabinet meeting on Dec. 11, after Malacañang released his appointment papers as presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery with Cabinet rank. President Aquino has signed Memorandum Order No. 62 providing for the functions of Lacson’s new office and defining its relationship with regular Cabinet departments and other agencies. But the memorandum’s delineation of functions, jurisdiction and responsibilities was ill-defined and full of ambiguities that can give rise to bureaucratic overlaps.

For example, Malacañang said Lacson would be coordinating with various government agencies and local government units in the reconstruction of the affected areas including Samar, Leyte, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Iloilo and Palawan. He is “also tasked to coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and its member-agencies and to consult with the concerned LGUs in the  formulation of programs for the rehabilitation of the affected areas,” said one of several Palace spokespersons, who said that among the programs of Lacson’s office are “overall strategic vision and integrated short-term, medium and long-term plans, which will be submitted to the President for approval.” According to the same spokesperson, who is not famous for his lucidity and consistency in explaining government policies, Lacson is expected to propose funding support for the implementation of plans and programs.

Under the memorandum, Lacson “is authorized to call upon any government office concerned with the implementation of the reconstruction efforts.” Also, “all departments, agencies, government-owned and -controlled corporations and financial institutions” are instructed “to render full assistance” to Lacson so he may “carry out his functions.”

In this bureaucratic free-for-all, there are too many offices with their fingers in every slice of the pie of the reconstruction plan. As the overlapping blueprint for economic recovery unfolds, doubts have grown as to whether the task is too big for Lacson to handle or whether he can accomplish anything within the remaining two years of the Aquino administration’s term. Reduced to its functional aspects, Lacson’s task boils down to being a troubleshooter to unclog bottlenecks in the delivery of resources for the colossal reconstruction project.

Lacson’s mandate arches across the jurisdictions of key executive departments with functions having to do with relief and reconstruction, such as the Departments of Interior and Local Government, of Finance, of National Defense, of Social Welfare and Development, and of Budget and Management, as well as the National Economic and Development Authority. He is tasked to carry out oversight functions across these departments which have the resources, money and personnel to implement the reconstruction plan.

Lacson also brings with him heavy baggage that may hamper him in accomplishing his enormous task. He is, by training and experience, a policeman (he headed the Philippine National Police during the Estrada administration), a law enforcer, and also a former senator better known for not availing himself of his pork barrel. Before he accepted the appointment of reconstruction overseer, Mr. Aquino considered him to head an anticorruption task force. National reconstruction after a disaster calls for engineering expertise and experience for which Lacson has no credentials; it requires more than being a law enforcer who can knock the heads of bureaucrats to get things done.

Even in the formulation of the memorandum defining Lacson’s functions, there is no sense of urgency calling for early results. In appointing Lacson, Mr. Aquino expressed optimism that the rehabilitation of communities ravaged by Yolanda would be realized “sooner” than initially expected. Lacson has said he hoped to complete the reconstruction by mid-2016.

But there is no reason for these optimistic expectations. The machinery propped up to respond to reconstruction needs is so hampered by time-consuming bureaucratic impediments that paralyze action and do not augur well for the early delivery of results.

A day before the Cabinet meeting on Dec. 9 that outlined the phases of the recovery plan, the United Nations was reported to be investigating reports that aid had yet to reach the remote parts of the country devastated by Yolanda. Valerie Amos, UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said she had expected that aid would have been delivered to survivors in even the most remote outlying islands following the Nov. 8 disaster. That report locates the recovery effort as still bogged down in the relief stage, not reconstruction.