Government of the Philippines-Development Partners Meeting

on Typhoon Yolanda Post Recovery and Reconstruction Plan

28 November 2013 (Thursday) – 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Bulwagang Apolinario Mabini, DFA Building, Pasay City

Your Excellencies;

Development Partners;

Fellow members of the Philippine Cabinet;

Ladies and gentlemen;

Good afternoon.

Please allow me to welcome all of you in today’s Development Partners Meeting on Typhoon Yolanda Post Recovery and Reconstruction Plan.

On behalf of my co-moderator Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Cabinet Secretary Jose Almendras, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and National Treasurer Lea de Leon, let me reiterate our grateful appreciation for the overwhelming and inspiring humanitarian response from the international community.

Your presence here today speaks of your steadfast and unparalleled commitment to help rebuild the Visayas. Indeed, the urgency to put together a well-coordinated, multi-stakeholder reconstruction program has never been greater.

This afternoon, our Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan will present to you the Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan, a programmatic framework that we hope will be further informed by consultations with key development partners and other stakeholders. The plan covers strategic development outcomes ranging from shelter and employment, to power restoration, education and infrastructure.

We envision an integrated and comprehensive framework that offers a menu of partnership options, with specific requirements and timeline, to address the complex task of reconstruction.

We hope that during the Open Forum, you, our development partners and allies may wish to consider identifying areas you could best support the Philippine Government in implementing the Plan. For the meantime, we appreciate the on-going Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) that some of our partners are currently undertaking or have undertaken to complement the Philippine Government’s own PDNA.

In the medium-term, the Philippines will need to work double time to maintain the momentum and build a sustainable economy. With your help, the Philippine Government can move swiftly to rebuild lives and infrastructure, reclaim communities, and renew the spirit of our nation.

We hope to rise above this unprecedented devastation to nurture a sustainable economy that is more inclusive – one that will harness the collective strength and spirit of our Visayan brothers and sisters.

There is no question that the Philippines continues to be a growth economy. Major credit rating agencies view the Philippines as “an engine of growth” in the region. Analysts recognized the country as a “new breakout nation.” In fact, the 2013 Change Readiness Index positioned the Philippines in the Top 20 list of nations in terms of its “capability to deal with change.”

But just as we are starting to fire all cylinders of the economy, super typhoon Yolanda has brought Visayas to its knees.

Confronted with the daunting task of rebuilding Central Philippines, we view Yolanda’s challenge as an opportunity for the Philippines to further stimulate the economy and improve the quality of life of our people.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There is no doubt that Yolanda is a game-changer. Purveyors of climate change predict that Yolanda is the “new normal.” But Yolanda also brought tremendous opportunities for the country to continue its reform agenda by investing more in human and physical capital. The main challenge now is how the Philippines will effectively proceed with the reconstruction phase, and continue to fuel the growing economy to a sustainable pace.

To our friends and partners in the international community:

•             Please continue to partner with us to reconstruct the Visayas, employing the Philippine Government’s cluster approach in implementing key programmatic interventions;

•             Please help us identify collaborative and innovative programs and projects by leveraging your core competencies and resources; and

•             Finally, please join us in recalibrating existing cooperative mechanisms in order to implement an optimal recovery and rehabilitation plan that will truly contribute to our overarching objective of achieving a sustainable and inclusive economy.

In closing, please allow us to proffer our heartfelt thanks to the outpouring of your collective support. At this point, we are truly, deeply moved by it. I look forward to our productive dialogue and exchange of ideas.

I thank you. END