Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Aquino administration hasn’t eased up on its rehabilitation work in areas affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda (internationally known as Haiyan).
That’s the assurance given by Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. in an interview with Allan Allanigue in a live interview aired on Sunday (August 2) over state-run radio dzRB, or Radyo ng Bayan.
Allanigue had asked Coloma for his reaction to a statement by Chaloka Beyani, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of internationally displaced persons.
In a news conference last Friday, Beyani, as quoted by a Reuters report, said: “Many families remain housed in collective ‘bunkhouses’ that do not meet necessary minimum standards for the provision of basic needs and services.”
Beyani added: “I was concerned to learn that funding shortfalls and political challenges, including inadequate cooperation between national and local governments, are delaying processes towards achieving durable solutions.”
In reply during his dzBB interview, Coloma thanked Beyani for his observations, saying: “Patuloy ang pagtutok ng pamahalaan na bigyan ng sapat na tulong ang mga internally displaced person, partikular hinggil sa pagtatayo ng mga permanente, ligtas at disenteng tahanan. Hindi humihinto ang pagkilos ng iba’t ibang ahensya ng pamahalaan — tulad ng NHA [National Housing Authority], DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development], DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] — katuwang ang mga lokal na pamahalaan upang tugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan upang muling mapanumbalik ang kanilang normal na pamumuhay.”
[Translation: “The government continues to focus on giving internally displace person enough help, in particular in building permanent, safe, and decent homes. Various government agencies — like the NHA, DSWD, DPWH — with the help of local government units have not stopped acting to address the needs of our countrymen so that they could regain normalcy in their lives.”]
Coloma added that the proposed 2016 budget includes additional funds for Yolanda rehabilitation work.
“Layunin din nating matulungan silang magkaroon ng kapaki-pakinabang na kabuhayan at trabaho sa kanilang pagbangon mula sa kalamidad,” he said.
[Translation: “it’s also our aim to help them get sources of livelihood and jobs as they recover from the calamity.”]
Yolanda, the strongest-ever storm to make landfall in the Philippines, killed more than 6,300 people and displaced 4.1 million in 2013.
Citing official government records, Reuters reported that only 2.5 percent of the targeted 21,012 permanent housing in the worst-hit Eastern Visayas region were ready as of June.
The NHA, the report said, recorded only 542 houses that have been completed.
According to an NHA news release, dated April 14 last year, 60,000 families were prioritized for permanent housing development.
But according to the Reuters report, only about 4,900 houses are in different phases of construction. In two towns on Samar Island and six towns on Leyte island, not a single house had been built 20 months after the typhoon struck.
