The Cebu provincial government will submit its revised rehabilitation plan worth P10.45 billion to the office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) this week.
After weeks of gathering field data to assess damage reports of typhoon Yolanda in north Cebu, the plan presents a “wholistic” picture of what’s needed for rehabilitation, recovery and development from 2014 to 2017, said Task Force Paglig-on chief Baltazar Tribunalo.
He said this will be submitted to PARR chief Panfilo Lacson, who will recommend the budget to Malacañang for release of funds.
The bulk of the P10.45 billion budget is for shelter and resettlement at P6.6 million.
The second top priority is livelihood and emergency employment and social development at P1.725 billion.
Right data
Tribunalo presented the plan during the annual membership meeting of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) – Visayas last Wednesday and then to various stakeholders in the task force last Friday.
The plan contains a profile of each of the 14 towns and one city, including the number of houses that were partly damaged or destroyed, and public infrastructure that was ruined, including farms.
“We were pressured to give a damage assessment of north Cebu right away, but I insisted that we take time to get the right data on the ground,” Tribunalo told PBSP Visayas members at the Casino Español.
“I told the governor: Bahala na, basta sakto ang numero.” The investment for shelter alone will require P3.97 billion.
The rest of the P6.6 billion budget includes costs of acquiring a relocation site, developing it and ensuring it has water supply and sanitation.
Tribunalo said the three guiding principles of the plan are to “build back better and greener”, improve governance and to develop capacities of people and institutions.
Aside from tapping government, the shelter efforts will involve stakeholders in the private sector like Habitat for Humanity, Gawad Kalinga, Prudence Foundation, Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief, March for Christ and the University of San Carlos, he said.
An amount of P2.3 billion will be needed to build 34,000 new houses on-site to replace those totally damaged.
Another P904 million is needed to build new houses on relocation sites, since the original structures stood on no-build zones 40 meters from the shore or in hazardous areas. They have to replace 15,000 houses – 112,920 houses that were destroyed and 2,104 that were partly damaged in the storm.
The budget was computed based on a housing design of P70,000 per unit using earth blocks to be made by residents and GI roof sheets. (See related story.)
For families that need to just repair their houses on site, the proposal is to give P10,000 as emergency shelter aid.
The total amount for the original recovery plan was set at P26.8 billion but was revised to P10.45 billion following instructions from Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who told the task force to make it “more realistic”.
Tribunalo said the task force will also start distributing seedlings to farmers in north Cebu in time for the “planting season” by the end of April.
Infrastructure
They will also distribute motorized bancas, fishing gear and help rehabilitate aqua marine farms in the typhoon-stricken towns.
The recovery and rehabilitation plan will cover 15 towns and one city where public infrastructure including town halls, school buildings, roads, piers and bridges, sea ports and public buildings were destroyed.
The areas include Bantayan, Sta. Fe, Madridejos, San Francisco, Pilar, Poro, Tudela, Tabuelan, Tuburan, San Remigio, Tabogon, Borbon, Sogod, Daanbantayan, Medellin and Bogo City.
After shelter and resettlement, the four major categories in the proposed budget are:
*infrastructure/utilities at P690 million which includes roads, bridges, flood control and water systems;
*social infrastructure at P874 million for school buildings, day care centers and health;
*livelihood and emergency employment at P1.7 billion; and
*capacity building/ social preparation/ training on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation at P175.5 million.