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[av_heading heading=’3 YEARS AFTER ‘YOLANDA’
STILL NO AID FOR 83T FAMILIES
DSWD seeks P1.197B for beneficiaries ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – A total of 83,345 families in Western Visayas rendered homeless by super typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013 have yet to receive housing assistance from the government, according to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional director Rebecca Geamala.
Under DSWD’s Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA), a family with a totally damaged house gets P30,000. A family with a partially damaged house, on the other hand, gets P10,000.
“These are families whose local government units were delayed in submitting their validated lists of beneficiaries,” said Geamala.
She announced yesterday, the third anniversary of “Yolanda”, that the regional DSWD office already requested P1.197 billion from its central office for the 83,345 families.
When will the ESA be released?
“We will distribute the fund to the beneficiaries as soon as the Department of Budget and Management downloads it to us,” Geamala said.
Geamala accompanied Ilongga DSWD assistant secretary Hope Hervilla visit northern Iloilo and the provinces of Capiz and Aklan yesterday. These areas were badly hit by the super typhoon.
“Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) was one of the most intense tropical cyclones in the world on record, and the deadliest in the Philippines, killing at least 6,000 people in Eastern, Central and Western Visayas. It was also the strongest storm recorded at landfall.
DSWD Region 6 has so far released P8,807,060,000 ESA to 503,840 families across Western Visayas, according to Geamala.
Of these families, 188,433 totally lost their houses; 315,407 had partially damaged houses.
The province of Iloilo got the biggest chunk of ESA at P3,304,420,000 covering 162,070 families.
Capiz received P28,94,810,000 for 145,633 families.
Other provinces and the ESA they got were as follows:
* Antique – P726,870,000 for 50,607 families
* Aklan – P1,355,220,000 for 84,972 families
* Negros Occidental – P825,740,000 for 60,558 families.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Region 6 placed the “Yolanda” recovery efforts at “67 percent” so far, citing data from the National Economic and Development Authority.
“This (67 percent) covered the damage on infrastructures, agriculture and fisheries in all provinces of the region,” said Cherry Mae Naranjo, regional information officer of OCD.
The super typhoon’s damage in Western Visayas reached P6.8 billion, according to Naranjo.
She acknowledged the slow recovery efforts in the area of resettlement.
“Some local government units have a hard time looking for suitable areas where to resettle those displaced by the super typhoon,” said Naranjo.
The resettlement area must be safe, she stressed.
The super typhoon’s damage in Western Visayas reached P6.8 billion, according to Naranjo.
Yesterday, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wanted housing aid for victims of “Yolanda” to be completed soon.
Speaking during the commemoration of the super typhoon Tacloban City, Duterte said he was disappointed with the insufficient housing assistance./PN
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