SIX YEARS AFTER ‘YOLANDA’: P1.576-B in housing projects completed in W. Visayas

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

A total of P1.576 billion worth of Yolanda housing projects were finally turned over to beneficiaries in Western Visayas through a ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and Deed of Donation and Acceptance (DODA) on Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles and local government officials in the region led the turnover of the eight project sites in Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, and Capiz.

The eight project sites include Guinticgan Village Housing Project Phase 1 at Brgy. Guinticgan, Carles, Iloilo; St. Therese Villlage Housing Project Phase 1 and Phase 2 at Brgy. Dayhagan, Carles, Iloilo; Villa Medalla Milagrosa Housing Project, Brgy. Timpas, Panit-an, Capiz; Altavas Home Site 1 and Home Site 2 in Brgy. Talon, Altavas, Aklan and Esperanza Home Site 1 and 2 in Brgy. Esperanza Culasi, Antique.

In sum, 5,439 completed housing units were turned over to the beneficiaries.

Some of the housing projects started construction in 2015 and 2016.

“We are trying to build communities. Minana lang namin ang program. Ang problema, hindi siguro napag-isipan kaya yung mga site ay kung saan ang pinaka-cheap, dun sa malalayong area but through collaboration and effort we are now on track,” Nograles said.

It was 2013 when super typhoon Yolanda hit most part of the Visayas. Region 6 was among the most hard-hit regions in Visayas.

Nograles said they aim to complete all Yolanda housing projects by middle of 2020.

“I know ilang taon ang nakaabot ng programang ito but by year 2020 tatapusin na namin ang lahat ng housing projects sa Yolanda,” he said.

As of September 30, 2019, Nograles reported that 63 percent or 57,936 units of the over-all target housing units in the region have been completed.

“We are really on track. We have already finished 63 percent of the target of 90,148 housing units in the region. If we include ang mga ongoing constructions, we are going at 93.5 percent already,” he added.

Nograles, who also chairs the Inter-agency Task Force Yolanda, said they will continue to help the communities even after the completion of the housing projects.

According to Nograles, they envision the housing units to become liveable communities by providing water, electricity, health units, and school buildings.

“We want to make it liveable. We asked the support of Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Health (DOH). Ang vision namin is at the very least dapat may school building na malapit, may kuryente, tubig at sana health unit kung pwede,” he noted.