House leader: Yolanda’s wrath won’t justify increased US troops

The catastrophe brought by Super Typhoon Yolanda which reduced Visayas provinces to Ground Zero and left at least 5,200 people dead won’t be enough to justify increased rotational presence of American troops on Philippine soil, a House leader said Tuesday.

Rep. Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, made the stance a day after Secretary Albert del Rosario of the Department of Foreign Affairs noted that Yolanda’s wrath accentuated the need for increased US troops presence, considering the huge resources that the United States poured in for the immediate relief operations for victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.