Brandnew houses at last...
Four years after super typhoon Yolanda hit the northern part of Cebu, at least 100 families who lost their homes unlocked the doors to their new housing unit in a relocation site in Bantayan town.
The 8.7-hectare housing project named Balai Bantayan is the first post-Yolanda relocation site in Bantayan Island established by the National Housing Authority.
Among the beneficiaries, couple Ivy and Benjie Fernandez, told The FREEMAN that they are thankful for the new house.
The couple and their five children are looking forward to leaving their old house and start a new life in their new home.
Another beneficiary, Cecilia Wayco, 52, is also excited to move in but she will wait for the full moon on November 18.
In interviews with the beneficiaries, most of them are grateful for their new homes even if they had to wait for four years for the housing project to be completed.
In Medellin town, a disaster-resilient threestory building will be turned over today to Medellin Central School from a local foundation that funded the project.
The floor of the 10 classrooms is tiled and each has its own toilet and lavatory.
Teacher III Analie Mangolare said the classrooms are designed to accommodate people who will be housed in the building during or after a calamity.
But the town has a P33.7-million evacuation center which is under construction.The project which is funded by the Office of Civil Defense-7 has four buildings which will serve as shelters during calamities.
Medellin's North Park View Village, the relocation site for Yolanda victims,will celebrate its first fiesta today.
Ligaya Aballe, president of the village's homeowners association, said they chose to celebrate the fiesta on the day Yolanda made landfall in Cebu because it was the calamity that brought them together in the community.
The families living in the village are all indigents who lost their homes along the coastal villages of barangays Antipolo, Daanlungsod, Kawit, Mahawak, Mohon, Nipa, and Tambo.
They moved in to their new houses built by NHA six months ago.
Joy Ornopia, one of the beneficiaries, is thankful to the government because even if she had to wait for almost four years, she is now in a better house as compared to what she had before the typhoon.
Meanwhile, in Barangay Maya, Daanbantayan, they will commemorate the Yolanda landfall with a torch parade, a fun run, a coastal cleanup and mangrove planting.
According to Maya National High School Principal Cirila Monleon, the barangay has been spearheading a yearly commemoration activity since 2014.
Their activities will show their children the importance of moving forward and coming together instead of dwelling in the negative impact of the past.
The local government of Daanbantayan is sponsoring a Holy Mass today.
Mayor Vicente Loot said it is time to find ways on how to improve the implementation of the pre and post disaster programs to ensure public safety during calamities.
The different relocation sites in northern Cebu will have facilities like health centers, basketball court, multipurpose center, a market, material recovery facility, water impounding facility, an elementary school building, and parks or playground.
However, these facilities are yet to be constructed because the construction of housing units was prioritized.
"All of these Yolandarelated projects are monitored by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),"NHA-7 Regional Manager Engr. Gavino Figuracion.
In Daanbantayan, NHA has relocation sites in the barangays of Calape, Lanao, Maya, Paypay, and Tominjao with a total of 4,363 housing units.
Houses were already constructed in the 5.5-hectare relocation site in Barangay Maya which can accommodate up to 650 housing units. Forty units are completed but only 14 families have moved in.
The other four NHA sites in Daanbantayan are still undergoing horizontal development.
In Medellin, 88 families are already occupying part of the 631 housing units in the relocation site in Barangay Antipolo. At least 569 units are yet to be constructed and the contract was already awarded to the winning contractor.
In San Remigio town, NHA will be building 1,224 units. Bidding was already done for the construction of 607 units while bidding for the rest of the units is yet to be slated.
The bidding for the construction of all 1,500 NHA housing units in Bogo City was already done. Of this, 750 units will be constructed in Barangay Banban and the other half will be in Barangay Don Rodriguez.
Overall, NHA allocated 22, 42 units for Cebu. Tuburan will get 170 housing units; Tabogon, 184 housing units; Borbon, 400 and 491 for Sogod.
Bantayan island will get a total of 9,518 housing units for the three towns while Camotes Island will get 3,153.
However, because of a presidential decree that prohibits the titling of land in the island, NHA is having a hard time pursuing the housing project.