TACLOBAN CITY–Four years after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” leveled the central Visayas and killed over 7,000 people, storm victims have called for the prosecution of government officials who are responsible for the bungled rehabilitation program.
“Four years. Too long a chance to complete the rehabilitation of Yolanda survivors. At this point, the focus should be on holding accountable erring government agencies, the people responsible for the anomalies in housing and the decades-long issues in land rights,” said Dhon Daganasol, president of Katarungan-Eastern Visayas.
Out of the 205,128 housing units needed to be put up for the Yolanda victims, the National Housing Authority has completed only 78,291 units four years after the super typhoon battered and flattened the area on Nov. 8, 2013.
At a news conference at the NHA central office in Quezon City, engineer Grace Guevarra of the NHA-Visayas Management Office admitted the agency’s delay to fulfill its target date to build homes for the affected families in 2018.
“When we advertise the opening of our bidding, it does not automatically mean there will be [interested] bidders to participate,” she said.
“Actually, there is no problem in the bidding [process], but the problem lies on the sites and the required [technical] documents,” she added.
In the House of representatives, as the nation commemorates today the 4th anniversary of Yolanda’s devastating wrath, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez has vowed to push for permanent homes and sustainable livelihood for the super typhoon survivors.
At the same time, Kittilstvedt-Romualdez also welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s commitment to prosecute people behind alleged subhuman and substandard housing projects.
“Now we have seen so much progress that has been achieved in building back our communities even better, and we have to thank the help of our Filipino and foreign friends as well as our national and local government for their continued leadership and support in helping us,” Romualdez said.
Romualdez is scheduled to deliver her solidarity speech tonight during the Yolanda Sundown Memorial-Sky Lantern Ceremony at Balyuan Park in Tacloban City.
To date, close to 40 percent of the housing requirement in the typhoon devastated Eastern Visayas have been completed but only 13 percent or 26,256 units have been occupied.
“The local government units have [sometimes] the peculiarities,” NHA project implementation team (NPIT) head Susan Nonato told the conference.
According to Guevarra, the “reconstruction of homes [in the affected areas] came later after Nov. 8, 2013.”
“In any calamities, rehabilitation is not a priority of every LGU. On the first year, there was no reconstruction but only gathering of data. The people’s priority are food, first aid and temporary shelter,” she said.
“After the 2014 data gathering under the [defunct] Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, on Sept. 30, 2014, the NHA started the bidding,” she added.
She partly blamed the late submission of the beneficiaries by some LGUs.
One of the other causes of the delay in the full implementation of the government’s shelter program for the Yolanda victims was the retrieval of land titles, she said.
“We have to go through the reconstruction of titles,” Guevarra said. With Maricel Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta
“It took us about [some] years to look for the titles,” Nonato said.
Romuel Alimboyao, NHA-Central Luzon officer in charge and NPIT engineer for Eastern Visayas, said “when we advertise simultaneously, proponents would submit their own documents, but not all of them could submit all the required dossiers. If they could not meet the requisites, they get disqualified.”
“Should there be no delay, our housing project could have already been completed [in 2018],” he said.
The NHA, however, gave the typhoon victims the assurance to address the housing backlog in the Yolanda-affected areas by second quarter of 2019.
Romualdez shared the sentiment of President Duterte who acknowledged that the delays in the rehabilitation of typhoon-stricken areas was unacceptable and those who were involved should be charged and prosecuted.
“We are happy to hear the commitment of the President to hold accountable the parties involved in the anomalies uncovered by the panel [House committee on housing and urban development] chaired by Congressman [Albee] Benitez [of Negros Occidental]. I know the President is a no non-sense action man and very much determined to address corruption,” Romualdez said.
“Since it involves people’s money, we really need to get to the bottom of these controversies,” said Romualdez, adding the problem seemed to “victimize them once again by another typhoon with a magnitude similar to Yolanda.”
The House committee on housing and urban development, chaired by Benitez, conducted the inquiry in response to the resolution filed by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries, and found out that some houses built in Balangiga, Eastern Samar were allegedly substandard.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said President Duterte “promises prosecution for the subhuman housing” in Tacloban City in Leyte and Balangiga in Eastern Samar and tasked housing czar Eduardo del Rosario and Presidential Assistant Wendel Avisado in charge of Yolanda rehabilitation.
On Tuesday, Daganasol, along with 200 leaders from Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP), trooped to the National Housing Authority and the Department of Agrarian Reform in Tacloban to demand justice over their condition.
“Prosecute those responsible for anomalies in housing and implementation of land reform laws affecting land rights of the farmers. Whether they be contractors, NHA or DAR personnel, let them be jailed,” he said.
Tessie Elacion, president of Balangiga Municipal Unsafe Zone Federation, also asked why the government had continued its processing of applications to the alleged substandard units, saying this was tantamount to condoning anomalies in housing projects, placing Yolanda survivors in more danger.
Elacion earlier complained about the alleged poorly designed housing units in their town which prompted them to withdraw their application.
“At least seven applicants to NHA housing unit in Brgy. Cansumangkay, Balangiga had withdrawn their filed applications, citing fear for their safety,” Rina Reyes, the project coordinator of Rights Network, told Manila Standard.
While Elacion protested about the substandard housing, Daganasol also complained about the alleged case of land conversion application in Leyte that was approved despite pre-mature or illegal conversion.
“The farmers tilling the neighboring land said that this has brought on the foul smell that attracted flies to their rice field. They challenged the decision of the agency to let the applicant comply instead of disapproving the application, a move that seemed to have prioritized business over food sovereignty,” Daganasol said in a statement.
The Yolanda victims then asked about the promised “change” from Duterte from the then administration of President Benigno Aquino III who also faced criticism over the snail-paced rehabilitation.
They asked why there seemed to be no action against the alleged erring contractors or individuals involved in the construction of substandard units.
This, despite the probe in September where the committee on Housing and Urban Development deliberated on House Resolution No. 599, “Resolution urging the Committee on Good Governance and Accountability and Committee on Housing and Urban Development to conduct an investigation, jointly or separately, on the perceived snail-paced implementation of housing relocation and resettlement projects for those affected by Typhon Yolanda and for those living in Danger ones, and to recommend appropriate legislation.”
During the House hearing, it was found out that as of August 2017 there were only 71,629 completed units, with 24,000 being occupied. NHA is reportedly targeting 205,128 housing units for Yolanda victims.
The committee also noted the alleged substandard quality of housing, the delays and extensions in construction, and contractors’ failure to pay its workers along with the issues on land titling and on support services like water in the resettlement sites.
“As much as we like to transfer to our relocation site, we can’t because the site is not livable. The drainage system is not yet clear while water is still being rationed. More, we lack livelihood, electricity there. We rather go back to the danger zone than return to our relocation site which is a ‘death zone’ for us,” Vincent Basiano, a survivor from the coastal area of Anibong in Tacloban City, said.
“We are not satisfied with the government’s response. We are complaining because what we have are substandard houses,” Laarni Cabatingan, 41, another storm survivor, said.
Basiano and Cabatingan said that along with other victims in Tacloban they had written a letter to Duterte to air their complaints about their housing issue.
Meanwhile, Tacloban Mayor Cristina Romualdez said they were continuously working on the transfer of Yolanda victims from danger zones to the permanent resettlement areas in the northern part of the city.
“We work with them [NHA], we always check, our city engineers check. Of course, may mga kunting, may mga ilang bahay talaga na kailang ayusin, pero in general naman happy naman sila,” the mayor told reporters in Tacloban earlier.
The mayor also disclosed that they were planning to construct a bigger market and more commercial establishments in the north so that the new residents would their own economic activities in the future.
In the Senate, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara has filed a bill seeking to declare Nov. 8 as a day of commemoration when catastrophic Typhoon Yolanda struck the Eastern Visayas Region.
Senate Bill 1596 seeks to declare Nov. 8 as a special non-working public holiday in Eastern Visayas to be known as “Yolanda Commemoration Day.”
If approved, there shall be no classes and work in Tacloban City and the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar, Western Samar, and Eastern Samar on November 8 of every year to remember the victims of the disaster and to honor those who worked in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts.
Senate Bill 1596 seeks to declare Nov. 8 as a special non-working public holiday in Eastern Visayas to be known as “Yolanda Commemoration Day.” With Maricel Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta
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