PALO, Leyte-Fidelino Josol, a public high school teacher in this town, feels uninterested anymore when the topic about the full releases of their long-awaited financial aid after super typhoon “Yolanda” pummeled Leyte on November 8, 2013.
“It is unlikely that it will be released,” said Josol, apparently frustrated about the issue.
Bobby Seno, a colleague of Josol, also said he is losing hope that he would receive the said financial assistance anymore due to its years of delay.
“I move on for many years now.(I) forget about it,” Seno said, referring to the President’s Social Fund granting financial assistance to government employees who were hit by 7.2-magnitude Bohol earthquake and Yolanda in 2013 during then Pres. Benigno Aquino administration.
Former Presidential Management Staff secretary Julia Andrea Abad issued a guideline for the fund release on January 7, 2014.
However, teachers like Josol have only received half of their aid in late 2015 while others have yet to receive their share.
Per guideline, government employees whose houses were totally damaged are entitled to receive P100,000 each while those with partially damaged will receive P30,000.
“It remains an uphill fight. In essence, the ‘emergency’ factor is no longer present in the giving of this emergency fund. If we don’t have any initiative, nothing will happen on this. Unified support from teachers is urgent to solve this issue,” Mer Inisa Ogario, Eastern Visayas regional coordinator of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), whose organization has been pushing for the full release of the funding, admitted earlier.
Ogario disclosed that aside from closely monitoring the issue, they also sought help from Social Welfare and Development Sec. Judy Taguiwalo to express their appeal to Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to speed up the fund distribution.
She also called division heads from concerned division offices who have not yet complied in their liquidation reports.
(RONALD O. REYES)
