TACLOBAN CITY — Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito will file a resolution to investigate sub-standard housing projects for super typhoon Yolanda survivors in Eastern Visayas.
Ejercito, chairman of the Senate committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, said the investigation aims to make concern government agencies and contractors accountable for building poor quality houses.
“If there is negligence, we have laws. We will conduct thorough research and investigation on the housing because we do not want a repeat of mistakes of the housing program in future disasters,” Ejercito said.
The senator said that common problem among government housing projects for disaster victims is the slow pace of construction of permanent houses.
“But we need to conduct first an investigation before we can recommend to file a case. If we found out that there is negligence, definitely we will recommend charges,” Ejercito said.
“It almost five years now and the government still need to deliver these houses promised to them. So I will be filling a resolution to look into housing program in disaster-hit areas,” he added.
Aside from investigation, Ejercito will also push for the creation of Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development.
Under the proposal, the agency will be an umbrella agency for all key shelter agencies to harmonize the efforts.
Ejercito was in this city late Thursday afternoon to visit three housing projects – Guadalupe Heights, New Hope Village, and Knight Ridge.
Among the most common complaints he received from housing recipients are sub-standard houses, leaks in septic tanks, absence of water and electricity supply, and building of permanent houses in flood-prone and landslide-prone areas.
“The problems here are more manageable because contractors are open to dialogues with the beneficiaries and trying to address concerns,” the senator noted.
He said that aside from this city, he will also visit housing projects built in Iloilo and other areas in central Philippines devastated by the 2013 killer typhoon.
National Housing Authority (NHA) Regional Manager Rizalde Mediavillo said they are not ignoring complaints of housing beneficiaries.
“The problem with permanent housing units was not noticed in the past because of the marching order to relocate beneficiaries even if houses are not yet ready for occupancy. Contractors are now going back to fix the problem in these units,” Mediavillo told reporters.
In Tacloban City, out of more than 14,000 housing units intended for Yolanda victims, more than 9,000 units had already been awarded to beneficiaries.
Of the more than 50,000 housing units in the entire region, more than 20,000 units had been turned over to beneficiaries, said Mediavillo. (PNA)
