HON. ALBERT F. DEL ROSARIO

Secretary of Foreign Affairs

Briefing for Philippine Development Partners on

Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY)

18 December 2013 (Wednesday) – 9:00-11:45 a.m.

Bulwagang Apolinario Mabini, DFA Bldg., Pasay City

OPENING REMARKS

Excellencies and members of the diplomatic corps;

Development Partners;

Fellow members of the Philippine Cabinet;

Ladies and gentlemen;

Please allow me on this beautiful morning to welcome all of you to today’s Briefing for Philippine Development Partners on Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda or RAY for short. To highlight the importance of this meeting of minds and hearts, His Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino III, will be honoring us with his presence today.

It is as well a privilege for the Department of Foreign Affairs, together with my co-Chair, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima; Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson; Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman; Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez; Budget Secretary Florencio Abad; Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan; Press Secretary Herminio Coloma; Presidential Management Staff Secretary Julia Abad; Secretary Panfilo Lacson, Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery; Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering of the Climate Change Commission; and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, to host today’s briefing on the monumental but doable task of rebuilding the Visayas.

Following our meeting last 28 November, we will present this morning a detailed and comprehensive recovery and reconstruction plan. RAY, as we will now call our reconstruction initiatives, is a process and an operational framework for achieving optimal results. And with our rehabilitation and recovery czar in place, in the person of the honorable Secretary Panfilo Lacson, given our meaningful partnerships and the proposed programming under RAY, we are confident that the development outcomes or key result areas will be achieved.

All of us view Yolanda’s challenge as an opportunity for the Philippines to further stimulate the economy and improve the quality of life of our people.

We hope that during this Forum, you, as our development partners and allies may wish to reiterate your commitments for program areas where you could best support the Philippine Government in implementing RAY.

We, therefore, call on your generous contributions, technical expertise, and inputs to ensure that this multi-stakeholder, multi-dimensional plan will observe and achieve accountability, coherence, effectiveness, and results in rebuilding more resilient communities.

In transformative terms, we aspire to employ the “Build Back Better” principle and scale-up Disaster Risk Reduction strategies not only to reduce our vulnerabilities to climate change, but also to strengthen our national capacities to cope with future shocks.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Aquino Government has the highest level of political will to continue our reform agenda, including the aspiration for a climate-resilient Philippines. In partnership with you, we are prepared to do everything we can, including making appropriate investments through our National Budget, which includes allocations for Fiscal Year 2013, especially in 2014.

With President Aquino’s leadership and your strong support, we hope to successfully implement RAY as a continuation of the President’s promise to the Filipino people. 

Please join us, therefore, in this extraordinary mission to rebuild, renew and reinvigorate the Visayas.

Thank you, once again, for the incredible outpouring of support and solidarity, and for being with us here today.  END