Two lawmakers are seeking the construction in Tacloban City of a memorial for the victims of super typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan)
According to Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate, the memorial will serve as a marker in memory of the casualties of the tragedy and a reminder to the country’s leaders and the people to work towards a disaster-resilient nation.
Colmenares said Yolanda was one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent memory, and that the death toll was apocalyptic in magnitude and the damage to property was biblical in proportion.
“As of February, the total death toll for all Yolanda-ravaged regions has reached 6,201 while 28,626 people were injured and 1,785 still missing according to the most recent reports of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC),” said Colmenares.
The proposal embodied in House Bill 4100, which shall be known as the “Yolanda Memorial Act of 2014,” provides that the marker shall be constructed in Tacloban City under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Highways in coordination with the local government units.
The bill further provides that a message shall be inscribed unto the base of the memorial and shall read as:
“In memory of the thousands of victims of YolandaThat calamities have been transformed into a monstrosity due to climate changeThat the leaders of this country must employ its utmost knowledge and care for the peopleTo work for a disaster-resilient nationThat appropriate, decisive and climate-adaptive policies must be enforcedTo help protect the lives and livelihood of the people and mitigate the effects of disastersTo prevent such loss when another calamity as Yolanda should ever come our way again.
May this never happen again.”
The bill, now pending at the House Committee on Public Works and Highways chaired by Rep. Ronald Cosalan (Lone District, Benguet), provides the inscription may be translated into Filipino or Waray, or both, according to the discretion of the LGU.
Furthermore, the amount necessary for the construction of the memorial shall be charged against the allocations in the General Appropriations Act of the DPWH, the bill provides. PNA
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