DSWD to turnover 1,000 shelters in ComVal, DavOr by year’s end

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to turnover some 1,000 additional core shelter units to the victims of Typhoon Pablo in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley (Comval) in December.

Assistant Secretary for Operations and Programs Group and Deputy National Project Director for KapitBisig Laban sa KahirapanComprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Service (Kalahi-CIDSS) Camilo G. Gudmalin bared this in an interview at the sidelines of a press conference at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City Tuesday.

Gudmalin said that the turnover of around 500 hous- ing units to each of the hard hit areas in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Comval will be in commemoration of the first year anniversary of Typhoon Pablo .

“It is the commitment of the national government to provide assistance to the victims of Typhoon Pablo and one of that is to provide them houses that will be more typhoon-resilient than before,” Gudmalin said.

Gudmalin noted that they have improved the design and structure of the core shelters to ensure that it could withstand strong typhoons and other disasters. The shelters have a uniform size of around 20 square meters and is enforced with concrete walls and galvanized iron roofing.

He also cited that the location on where the houses are being built are in accordance to the disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) regulations set by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The price of each core shelter is pegged at P70,000.

Gudmalin, however, admitted that they still have a long way to go in accomplishing their target of 17,000 houses in the two hard-hit provinces as they are yet to liquidate the funds used in the previous construction projects.

“We have already funded 3,000 units for Davao Oriental and about 2,000 units in Comval. Once the initial amount of money is liquidated, will be providing additional funds to complete our requirements of 17,000 houses built,” Gudmalin said.

The construction of the core shelters is still ongoing.