BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – Nearly eight months after super typhoon “Yolanda” struck, the P26-billion rehabilitation plan of Iloilo province has finally secured the endorsement of the Cabinet Cluster on Rehabilitation (CCR).
The plan covers 32 towns that “Yolanda” plowed on November 8, 2013.
“Our rehabilitation plan is due for approval by President Benigno Aquino III,” said Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
The fund is intended for the infrastructure sector that would undertake the repair of damaged roads, bridges, irrigation facilities, health, and education programs.
The biggest allocation is P12.8 million for 43,987 totally damaged houses, said Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief Jerry Bionat.
The other allocations are for agriculture (P2.3 billion), infrastructure (P7.3 billion), social services (P2.5 billion) and livelihood (P1 billion).
Defensor presented the rehabilitation plan to the CCR and to the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery headed by former senator Panfilo Lacson on July 5 in Manila.
Based on the Post Disaster Needs Assessment, Lacson said during a visit to Iloilo last month, the government had allotted a total of P104.644 billion for distribution to 171 typhoon-hit areas.
Out of the said amount, he said, Western Visayas would get a big chunk.
“Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”), one of the deadliest Philippine typhoons on record, killed over 6,000 people.
In Western Visayas, it left 294 people dead and 2,068 injured as of the April 2014 data of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council./PN
