Former senator Panfilo Lacson told reporters Sunday that he will lead reconstruction efforts in areas ravaged by super typhoon Yolanda.
The Palace has yet to confirm the appointment.
President Aquino reportedly told a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he had decided to appoint Lacson his rehabilitation “czar.” Lacson said he would spend the weekend thinking it over after a lengthy meeting with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa. The Palace has yet to confirm Lacson’s announcement.
It is still not clear why Aquino would choose Lacson, one of the most controversial and polarizing political figures in the last two decades. As a senator for 12 years, his law-making often took a backseat to highly public word wars with fellow senators, especially Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and ex-President Estrada, his former boss with whom he had a falling out during EDSA Dos in 2001.
He was linked to several brutal murders, including those of the well-known publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver. Lacson was eventually cleared by the courts.
For more than a year while he was a senator, Lacson was overseas as a fugitive from justice, with Interpol assisting in the search.
But as the head of rehabilitation dealing with both national and local government officials each with their own priorities and alliances, Lacson will need a deep well of public trust and all the skills of a mediator.
At the very least, his opponents could harp on his colorful past and cause a distraction.
Lacson served as senator from 2001 to 2013. Prior to that, he was the Philippine National Police director general for two years.
Billions in rehab funds
“Those consultations gave me the confidence that the task, while daunting, is doable within the period of his presidency. I have informed the President of my decision and he has acknowledged the same,” he added.
The super typhoon, dubbed the strongest to have made landfall in world history, damaged about P30 billion worth of agriculture and infrastructure.
P50 billion of those funds will be sourced from the 2014 budget allocation, savings from the 2013 budget, and unused “pork barrel” of lawmakers. The other P80 billion will be sourced through “concessional loans” from multilateral lending agencies.
- 67 percent for construction of public infrastructure, including roads, bridges and other facilities
- 12 percent for livelihood projects
- 11 percent for local facilities
- 9 percent for social services, including health services and education
The government has identified some 171 municipalities from 14 provinces as “first-priority areas” in the said recovery plan.
Lacson was previously embroiled in the Kuratong Baleleng murder case where suspected gang members were killed in an alleged rubout. Lacson was also one of the accused in the killings of PR man Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000. He has since been cleared in all the cases. — JDS/KDM, GMA News
