Bohol quake victims receive new houses from Habitat

LOON, BOHOL , Philippines— Roberta Pinonia Matutes had recovered and moved on to make her life normal again, after losing her grandchild Kimberly to the 7.2-magnitude earthquake on October 15, 2103.

Matutes, an 85-year-old widow in Barangay Basdacu of this quake-devastated town, about 25 kilometers north of Tagbilaran City, said that, two years after that deadly tremor, she had found fresh hope and a new home—a single detached core shelter house, built under the Rebuild Bohol program of the Habitat for Humanity Foundation.

In a talk with The Freeman, Matutes recounted that she almost died on that fateful day when a concrete table, where she and her grandchild hid under, suddenly cracked and fell on them while her house collapsed. She survived but not Kimberly, who died only minutes after the quake.

Matutes missed so much her granddaughter but now that she has a new house, which Habitat had constructed starting sometime in the second quarter of this year, eventually finished and turned it over to her last August.

The earthquake survivor heaved a sigh of relief with a revived hope of living a normal life again. This new house, she said, gives her assurance of security and a vision for a better tomorrow.

The newly painted house, at first, lacked water supply and electricity, but a relative helped Matutes apply for new connections to these utilities. For her livelihood, she has been learning to sew clothes, using her old manual sewing machine.

A resident of this barangay, 51-year-old Joselito Ponte, 51, said his new life had just begun, as he was cutting the grass with his bolo around yard of his new house, also built by Habitat. Ponte, who has been known as coyme or one who decides the winner in a cockfight, said his new house is better than the one damaged by the earthquake.

He admitted, however, that his house now is not complete yet because it is still bare and without a division for a bedroom and a built-in toilet. The house—made of concrete, woven bamboo strips, GI roofing and trusses—is enough though for his family, wife Judith and three children, he said.

Ponte said he built his kitchen at the back of the house, and now he is trying to raise money to pay for water and power connections.  .

Another quake victim in this town, Adelaida Flores Recamados, is among the beneficiaries of the program of ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother, with a fund of P3 million also coursed through Habitat. There were 33 quake victims here who were beneficiaries also of the core shelter program implemented by Habitat with funds from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Vince Delector, director of the Habitat foundation, said a total of 1,765 houses were completed, out of the 8,083 core houses intended for the quake victims in 17 towns. Habitat has been the implementer of the construction of the houses, at a cost of P88,000 each, with P70,000 of which provided by the DSWD and there rest by Habitat.

Delector, during the “Kita Ug ang Gobernador” press conference, said the 1,765 houses were part of the first batch of 2,536 units. Of this number, 790 still lack lighting and plumbing fixtures, 2,536 are structurally completed, while 1,031 are still under construction, and the rest still be constructed due to lack of materials.

The Habitat housing program actually began on September last year, or months after the foundation got the fund from DSWD, Delector clarified.

DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, during a ceremony at Sagbayan town early last year, turned over to Habitat the first tranche of the fund, amounting to P317.5 million. The second fund release (P248.29 million) has yet to be given to complete the building of 8,083 core houses for the quake victims. —Ric V. Obedencio (FREEMAN)