Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 22) – Partido Reporma standard bearer Sen. Ping Lacson stood firm he completed his mandate as the rehabilitation and recovery czar for areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.
Lacson said his primary task then was to create a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for affected communities, which he claimed was done in a “record time” of six months, as certified by the United Nations Development Program and other international organizations.
“Tapos na ang trabaho ko (I finished my work there), Jessica,” Lacson told GMA’s The Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews on Saturday.
Lacson was appointed by the late former president Benigno Aquino III as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery in December 2013, a month after Yolanda battered parts of Eastern Visayas. He served until February 2015.
The presidential aspirant also said in the interview that he had offered to resign if he failed to do his job. He explained the implementation of the ₱167-billion plan was not part of his duty.
“Kung saan nag-fail yung implementation, labas po ako doon kasi (The failure of the implementation was out of my hands because) I can only do so much,” Lacson said.
Yolanda was one of the strongest tropical cyclones to hit the country, according to weather bureau PAGASA. The super typhoon left 6,300 dead, 28,688 injured, and over 1,000 missing.
In its 2020 report, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development said over 37,000 houses intended for Yolanda victims in Eastern Visayas have not yet been completed.
Lacson is running alongside Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto as his vice presidential bet and 15 senatorial aspirants.
