Relocation site ‘death zone’
An alliance of disaster survivors questioned the haste with which the Duterte administration had transferred Yolanda victims in Tacloban City to resettlement areas.
People Surge, which represents disaster survivors in Eastern Visayas, said the resettled families face more danger at the relocation sites.
"Resettlement in Tacloban City is still characterized by substandard houses," People Surge chair Dr. Efleda Bautista said.
The group appealed instead to the National Housing Authority (NHA) to provide adequate, quality and rent-free resettlement in areas Yolanda devastated.
The group said residents in the Tacloban North Resettlement Project lamented the deplorable state of their housing units, citing hollow walls and dilapidated roofing among others.
"The people are very much concerned with their safety especially after the deadly storm surge that hit the region, but the transfer of communities from the so-called unsafe zones could be a trip to death zones," Bautista added.
Cases of deaths in the resettlement are due to heat stroke, diarrhea, dengue and pneumonia have been recorded because of the woeful conditions at the resettlement sites, Bautista said.
"We now urge President Duterte to fix these problems but not in haste through plain transfer of communities. The quality of the constructed houses must first be ensured," he said.
The NHA plans to build 205,128 housing units despite the millions of people displaced and left homeless by Yolanda, the group pointed out.
"From this overly conservative target of the housing agency, is their overly failed performance. NHA failed to deliver as they have posted a disgustingly low 12.3 percent overall accomplishment," Bautista said, adding that the NHA was allocated a huge budget this year of P39.2 billion.
While the relocated will not be charged for the units awarded to them, it will not take that long, as they will have to pay P200 every month after five years of occupying the units, it noted.
"The NHA has made their service to the people valid for only five years; that instead of wholly owning up on the housing projects, they acted like business corporations, with the main objective of ensuring minimal expenditures," Bautista said.
"The determination of President Duterte in expediting the awarding of housing units to Yolanda survivors is well-appreciated, but we urge him to listen to the survivors on their plight and considerations over these issues that concerns no less than the survivors themselves," she added.