Cabinet members visit D’bantayan, promise release of aid for Yolanda survivors: P30,000 for destroyed house, P10,000 for damaged dwelling
DILG Secretary Mar Roxas points to repair work in the public market of Daanbantayan town during a visit with DSWD Secretary “Dinky” Soliman. They were accompanied by Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro and Gov. Hilario Davide III.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
You’ll get your cash aid for shelter by January.
This was the assurance given yesterday by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman to survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda in northern Cebu where she visited Daanbantayan town with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
After supertyphoon Yolanda made landfall in Daanbantayan in Nov. 8 last year, 18,200 families are still waiting to receive funds earmarked as Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) from the national government. Seven other northern Cebu towns are also waiting.
A year after the monster storm, the DSWD secretary renewed her promise.
“Ang lahat po bibigyan. Kung may iba nakapagpagawa na sa sarili nilang sikap, bibigyan pa rin natin para kahit papaano ay may ma-refund tayo sa kanilang ginastos (Everyone will receive help including those who already have made efforts to repair their houses so that they can still get reimbursed for what they’ve spent.),” she told Cebu officials and town’s residents at the Daanbantayan sports complex.
The Cabinet officials arrived in Cebu from Roxas City in Aklan where they also visited areas devastated by Yolanda.
Before that, they were in Coron, Palawan where they also had dialogues with local officials and residents of storm-hit areas.
Soliman reiterated what she earlier said in Roxas City that President Aquino had ordered the fast-tracking of the distribution of the P18-billion cash assistance to typhoon survivors whose houses were destroyed by Yolanda’s wrath.
She said families whose houses were destroyed would get P30,000 while those with partially damaged dwellings would receive P10,000.
But the cash aid will not be released to families living in danger zones, for example those near the shore.
Soliman said only those who are “permitted to rebuild in safe zones” can avail of the funds.
Those who stayed in danger zones have to be resettled somewhere else as a beneficiary of housing units under the National Housing Authority (NHA).
“The President told us that the aid should be downloaded to all Yolanda-affected towns before January 2015,” she said as the crowd cheered and applauded in approval.
According to a recent DSWD report, only P118.5 million or less than five percent of the P2.4 billion budget for ESA were released to Cebu towns of Madridejos, Sta. Fe in Bantayan island and Tabuelan, Tuburan, Sogod, and Bogo City in the mainland.
Daanbantayan has the most number of households listed to receive aid at 18,200 for a total of P545.6 million.
Municipal mayors and storm victims including those from Bantayan Island confronted provincial officials about the non-release of shelter aid but Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III could only appeal for them to be more patient as “the matter is out of our hands.”
In an interview, Soliman said the DSWD is waiting for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to transmit the funds to DSWD’s regional offices which would then distribute the funds to affected local government units.
“We are still in the process of downloading it from the Department of Budget and Management,” she explained.
The Cabinet officials arrived on board a helicopter at the Daanbantayan National High School grounds at past 10 a.m. and were welcomed by schoolchildren waving yellow flaglets.
Cabinet and local officials led by Gov. Davide and Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro, inspected the progress of repair work in the town’s public market, town hall and sports complex.
Saying he was “satisfied with the rehabilitation efforts” in the town, Roxas said funds for the “phase two” of the repair of government structures for Cebu will be disbursed before December.
The additional P130 million will be used for the repair of barangay halls, birthing centers and the like, he said.
“Close to 85 percent of the repairs have been already completed so the funds for phase two will be released in two weeks,” he said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which is overseeing the Recovery Assistance for Yolanda (RAY) program has already disbursed P87 million to storm-hit LGUs in Cebu.
“Almost 85 percent complete na tayo sa Cebu. That’s why we can now proceed to phase two,” he explained.
A vendor gave DILG Sec. Mar Roxas a hug during his visit at the Daanbantayan public market. (CDN PHOTO/ PETER ROMANILLOS)
From the public market, the officials proceeded to the relocation site being overseen by Habitat for Humanity in barangay Aguho.
Roxas called this a “good example” of cooperation between the town and the province.
The land used as a relocation site was donated by the provincial government to the municipality. It now has 70 concrete duplex houses which will be turned over to beneficiaries next month as an “early Christmas gift,” said Mayor Corro.
“The provincial government provided the relocation site for Daanbantayan that’s why it was fast. Nakatayo na kaagad. Yung mga bahay P180,000 each and can withstand 250 kilometers per hour winds,” he explained.
Aside from Corro, only four municipal mayors out of the 16 affected LGUs attended the program and dialog with the Cabinet members.
They were Butch Sepulveda of Borbon, Mariano Martinez of San Remigio, Rex Gerona of Tabuelan and Salvador dela Fuente of Madridejos.
Tuburan Vice Mayor Danilo Diamante represented his brother, Mayor Democrito Diamante, in the activity.