‘Explain delay in shelter aid’

Residents leave the evacuation center in Daanbantayan town at the height of supertyphoon Yolanda in these Nov. 8, 2013 file photos. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman and Defense Secretary Voltaire Guzman are scheduled to visit Daanbantayan today. (CDN FILE PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)

Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro and mayors of northern Cebu towns will ask Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas to explain the non-release of  Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) to typhoon Yolanda survivors  when he  visits their areas today.

Roxas will be flying to Cebu this morning from Panay.  He will be joined by  Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

Mayor Corro said he wanted to know where the ESA promised to 18,200 families in his town went.

He said no one from his town has received the cash aid  — P30,000 for a house that’s  destroyed and P10,000 for  a damaged house.

Even housing units from the National Housing Authority (NHA) that were promised to 4,000 families have not been started, he said.

Corro said Daanbatayan still has a 20 percent backlog in the construction of classrooms for public schools.

“These are the things that he (Roxas) ought to know,” Corro told Cebu Daily News  last night.

Brief tour
Corro said he prepared a brief tour for the three Cabinet secretaries.

He wanted to take them to the La Farge housing site in barangay Agujo so they would see the 70 typhoon resilient housing units built in the area.

La Farge will be giving out the housing units to pre-selected beneficiaries as a Christmas gift, Corro said.

Their next stop is the Daanbantayan public market and their cultural and sports center which provided shelter to town residents when Yolanda hit last year.

Both structures were damaged by the supertyphoon.

Dialog
A short program is scheduled at the cultural center before they proceed to the town hall for a dialog with Roxas.

Other north district mayors and barangay officials have also been invited to the dialog, Corro said.

Corro said they already received P9.7 million which they divided for the repair of their town hall, public market and cultural center.

Rehabilitation work especially for their public market is still ongoing.

But the allocation is not enough to finish rehab works.

Understand

“Ang mga barangay wala pay nadawat.  Mao na ni ang panahon nga pwede na nila mapangutana ni (The barangays have yet to receive something. This is the time they can ask) Secretary Roxas,” he said.

However, Corro said, he does not begrudge the Aquino administration with the delays in the release of cash aid.

He said he understands that many other local government units (LGUs) also need help.

Corro said while there have been delays in the release of cash aid to his town, he was well aware that the national government coordinated with other countries in bringing foreign aid to his town.

Work program

The arrival of Korean soldiers into their town was a product of the Philippine and Korean government’s cooperation.

He credits Daanbantayan’s recovery to the coordination of government, foreign countries, non-government organizations (NGOs) and private sector groups.

Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale was also the first provincial official to visit their town and deliver food packs and an engineering team to do road clearing operations.

The government’s cash for work program also helped typhoon victims earn money which they used to buy housing materials to repair their damaged homes.

Still, Corro said, national officials will have to explain delays in the assistance which they promised to Yolanda victims.

Timely

Their 18,200 families with damaged and partially damaged structures have yet to receive their share of the ESA of P30,000 and P10,000 respectively.

For her part, Capitol consultant for rehabilitation and recovery Carmel Ulanday said they expect the mayors to ask Roxas and Soliman about the delay of their shelter aid.

Ulanday said the question is a timely one to ask since Daanbantayan has the biggest ESA requirement among all the 15 towns and one city that was affected by the supertyphoon.

Updates

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) owes the town P545.6 million for its emergency shelter aid for its 18,000 affected households.

Task Force Paglig-on Head Baltazar Tribunalo said he and Ulanday cannot attend the visit but said he will send a representative to press for updates.

“Yes, that will be our main concern tomorrow,” Tribunalo said.

Only P118.5 million or less than five percent of a P2.4 billion budget for ESA were released to Yolanda supertyphoon victims in the Cebu towns of Madridejos, Sta. Fe in Bantayan and  Tabuelan, Tuburan, Sogod, and Bogo City in mainland Cebu based on the latest  DSWD report.