TACLOBAN CITY – Malacañang will hold consultations on the implementation of recovery projects in areas ravaged by super typhoon “Yolanda” in Eastern Visayas more than four years ago.
Presidential Adviser on Special Concerns Wendel Avisado, the official tapped by President Rodrigo R. Duterte to check post-“Yolanda” rehabilitation, will lead the consultation next month, said National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy on Thursday.
NEDA, the agency tasked to monitor government-led post-Yolanda recovery initiatives, will host a meeting on Feb. 20 with regional heads of national government agencies in the region.
Avisado will preside the meeting where schedules of the three-week provincial consultation will be presented to concerned agencies.
“The presidential adviser wants to know the status of projects and what the remaining issues and concerns are in the project implementation phase,” Uy said.
The NEDA regional chief said the consultation will focus on unfinished housing and livelihood projects along Yolanda’s path in four of the region’s provinces – Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Biliran.
In Eastern Visayas alone, only 12,000 out of 56,000 target permanent houses for typhoon survivors have been completed last year. Most of these housing units are in this city. The NHA targets to build 14,433 units in this city alone. About 9,000 houses have been awarded to beneficiaries.
NEDA confirmed several projects under the livelihood cluster had not yet begun in Eastern Visayas last year.
Consultations will be held in towns where projects are delayed to ensure that concerns of stakeholders will be heard.
On Nov. 8, 2013, super typhoon Yolanda unleashed its wrath in central Philippines, killing around 6,300 people and leaving more than 4.4 million people displaced and homeless.
The city, the regional hub of Eastern Visayas region, was considered as Yolanda’s ground zero. (Sarwell Meniano/PNA)
