MORE FUNDS FOR CEBU
The Department of Budget and Management yesterday announced the release of an additional P8 billion to fund the construction of permanent shelters for those left homeless by supertyphoon Yolanda.
The amount which will be channeled to the National Housing Authority is on top of the P11 billion housing fund announced in Cebu last week by rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson.
Cebu, whose northern part was among those heavily devastated by the Nov. 8, 2013 supertyphoon, will get P1.84 billion which is estimated to be enough to build 6,292 housing units.
The additional P8 billion would come from the 2014 Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program, the DBM said.
The NHA had requested funding after it assessed the housing needs of the areas devastated by Yolanda, the DBM said.
Yesterday’s announcement followed a special Cabinet meeting last Friday where the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Recovery and Rehabilitation (OPARR) was scheduled to present a timeline on how its P170.9 billion Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (CRRP) is to be implemented.
Lacson, during his visit in Cebu, lamented the slow grind of the rehabilitation process and dropped hints of quitting his post.
Prior to his visit to Bantayan island last week, a Cebu Daily News source said the President got irked during the previous week’s Cabinet meeting where Lacson reportedly insisted that the CRRP must be signed before Yolanda’s first anniversary.
In his speech during the 70th anniversary of the Leyte Landing last week, President Aquino said he has required the OPARR to produce a timeline of all the rehabilitation projects for areas battered by Yolanda before he would sign the recovery master plan that was submitted to him on Aug. 1.
“During the Yolanda Cabinet meeting last week, I was looking for a timeline: what is expected to be finished by what date. I want it to be more specific,” Mr. Aquino told reporters in Leyte.
“May I just repeat because some might be asking what is taking the government so long to sign the master plan. We have what we call a post-disaster needs assessment, and that should emanate from the local government units. In keeping with what we call bottom-up budgeting, we do not want the so-called Imperial Manila to impose on what projects should be implemented.”
“They promised to give me the timeline and details this week. And once I see that, I’ll be okay (with the master plan),” the President said.
The entire amount of P19 billion which the DBM announced yesterday will be spent on building 64,982 houses across five regions.
In Region 4-B (Mimaropa), 708 housing units worth a total of P207 million will be constructed in Palawan.
In Region 5 (Bicol), 102 houses worth P29.9 million will be constructed in Masbate.
In the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental in Region 6 (Western Visayas), a total of 24,481 units worth P7.14 billion will be built.
The heavily battered Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) will get the biggest budget worth P9.78 billion to be spent on building a total of 33,399 houses in Biliran, Eastern Samar and Leyte.
“Ultimately, our goal is to restore normalcy in these communities and improve their resiliency to disasters. This release will not just allow the NHA to provide shelter to Yolanda’s survivors. It will also ensure that the affected families will have quality, permanent housing that will enable them to weather future disasters safely,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement.
“But more than just building permanent housing for the Yolanda victims, the government is implementing the ‘Build Back Better’ strategy to rebuild communities in safer areas rather than in the danger zones where they were first located,” Abad added.
According to the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment of the Office of Civil Defense, Yolanda inflicted P89.6 billion in damage as well as P42.8 billion in losses across the economic, infrastructure and social sectors. Government estimated that P104.6 billion would be needed to rebuild and rehabilitate the areas affected by supertyphoon Yolanda.
Lacson’s CRRP focused on four sectors: infrastructure at P35.1 billion, resettlement at P75.6 billion, livelihood at P33.6 billion, and social services at P26.4 billion.
The master plan incorporated the Reconstruction Assistance for Yolanda (RAY) framework of the National Economic Development Authority; the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) that was vetted by the Office of the Civil Defense; local rehabilitation plans submitted by affected local government units; and the clustered action plans approved by the Cabinet. /Inquirer with reports from Managing Editor Ares P. Gutierrez and Reporter Peter Romanillos