Noy orders faster rehab of typhoon-hit areas

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday directed Cabinet officials tasked to implement the Typhoon Yolanda rehabilitation master plan to expedite the process since June is the start of the rainy season and opening of classes.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., who attended the six-hour meeting, said his colleagues were told “to act with an increased sense of urgency in finalizing the post-Yolanda rehabilitation plan, especially in view of the expected onset of the rainy season in June.”

Rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson said the rehabilitation plans for severely affected areas in the Visayas, like Leyte, western Samar, Cebu and Tacloban City, are completed.

Coloma said there will still be a final review session within a week where each cluster will be asked to “sign off so that full implementation will commence on all fronts” once Aquino approves the plan.

This will be in the areas of resettlement, infrastructure, social services and livelihood.

He said the purpose of the next meeting is to thresh out a new policy using science-based multi-hazard maps to determine safe, controlled and unsafe zones in light of the government’s “no-build zone policy.”

This is expected to “address the problems posed by the strict implementation of the no-build zone policy, especially in coastal and tourist-oriented areas.”

For his part, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the national government has made available P65 billion from the 2013 and 2014 national budgets, where P32.2 billion has been released so far by the Department of Budget and Management.

There is still P80 billion from the concessional loans and grants given to the Philippines by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Japan Industrial Cooperation Agency.

Coloma said the government has received another P15 billion from foreign governments out of the more than P34 billion in pledges aimed at helping the areas devastated by Yolanda.

Newly appointed executive director Alexander Pama of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council reported that the agency’s post-disaster needs assessment in four regions reached P104.6 billion.

As for the building of houses, National Housing Authority general manager Chito Cruz said construction of 2,844 “new permanent housing units” has begun while another 5,760 are expected to be contracted next month.

Coloma told reporters that 214,367 new houses will be built until 2016, covering 1,301 hectares of land.

“Land acquisition and development are expected to accelerate after the President approved the allocation of funds for the acquisition of private lands through expropriation or direct purchase,” he added.

DSWD chief: No need to rush housing

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman said there is no need to rush or to set tight timelines for the construction of transitional and permanent housing units for the thousands of families left homeless by Yolanda as the government aims to build back better communities.

She said special attention is being given to the proposed sites of resettlement communities so that these locations would not be flood-prone.

“This means taking into consideration not only the structure but also the areas on which the houses will be constructed, that they are not in low-lying zones and are not dangerous, especially during natural disasters that may come in the future,” Soliman said.

“The locations of the resettlements have been particularly a problem because of the lack of available land that is safe and wide enough to accommodate the communities. We are already taking into consideration a number of proposals to address this, such as procuring private land,” she added.

So far, the municipalities of Basey, Marabut and Hernani in Samar have already identified lands for the resettlement communities of Yolanda survivors. The local government of Tacloban City has also identified a 100-hectare lot that can be converted into a site for shelters, Soliman said.

“This proves that the government does not want to give them just any temporary shelter just for the sake of providing them something or just so we can say that we have given them something,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the France Philippines United Action are working to construct 140 housing units in a resettlement site in Daan Bantayan, Cebu for Yolanda victims.

The $2-million project includes health and community facilities, livelihood support and disaster risk reduction. The PRC yesterday led the groundbreaking ceremony to jumpstart the project.

PRC chairman Richard Gordon said the project has the backing of the French Red Cross and prominent French firms such as oil company Total, Sanofi, Caisse des Dépôt and Lafarge.

The PRC has also partnered with Habitat for Humanity Philippines in implementing the project. With Rainier Allan Ronda, Sheila Crisostomo