BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – President Benigno Aquino III announced during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) yesterday that he already approved the rehabilitation plan of six typhoon-hit provinces in the Visayas, including Iloilo.
It was the revalidated P17.1-billion rehabilitation plan which the President approved, confirmed Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. who attended the Sona.
“Funds for social services will be released through various government agencies,” the governor said.
From P27.4 billion, the proposed rehabilitation plan of Iloilo province was slashed to P17.1 billion following a review.
The figure was reduced because the number of affected houses in areas that storm surges hit when super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) struck November last year also shrunk from 43,987 to 8,027, Defensor explained.
Some of the families whose houses were totally destroyed were already recipients of housing units donated by various non-government organizations, according to the governor.
“So from a proposed budget of P12 billion for resettlement, it went down to P2.4 billion,” Defensor said.
The final rehabilitation plan of the province covers five components: agriculture (P2.3 billion), infrastructure (P7.3 billion), social services (P2.7 billion), resettlement (P2.4 billion), and livelihood (P2.4 billion)./PN
