Creation of special body to rehabilitate cyclone-hit RP opposed

An administration senator on Monday opposed the proposal to create a special commission to administer and monitor rehabilitation efforts in the wake of the destruction brought about by tropical cyclones "Ondoy" and "Pepeng." “That proposal, I think, is just a measure of the hysteria that has arisen because people are afraid," said Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on Monday. The proposal came from presidential economic adviser Jose Salceda, who urged the government to seek $1 billion in foreign grants and concessional loans to be managed by the proposed Special Commission for Ondoy and Pepeng Reconstruction Fund (SCOPE-RF). He said the commission should be composed of the government, the Church, big business, and civil society. But Santiago said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should not create ad hoc bodies that would transcend the end of her tenure in 2010. She said the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts are likely to continue even after President Arroyo’s term. “If it is only an ad hoc body, then the next president will be perfectly correct in dissolving it because that would lie within his authority," she said. Santiago said a disaster preparedness and relief agency created by law is better suited to undertake rehabilitation efforts, citing the need for the House of Representatives to pass the Philippine Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Act. The Senate approved the measure last month. The bill seeks to lay down the groundwork for a more responsive and effective disaster monitoring, coordination, and response program at all levels of government. Santiago also said membership of a religious leader in the special commission should be discouraged in keeping with the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state. “I thought we had separation of Church and State in this country! That is definitely going to be controversial," she said. - GMANews.TV