Palace admits building new houses still a challenge

Two years after supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated Eastern Visayas, Malacañang on Saturday admitted that there are challenges in building back thousands of houses damaged by the typhoon.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that there are challenges that the administration has been confronted with in building houses for “Yolanda” survivors.

“Mayroon pa rin po tayong mga key implementation challenges na ating hinaharap katulad po nito, ‘yung policies on procurement at saka land acquisition, at marami pong mga required na permit at clearances bago ho masimulan ang mga certain projects,” Valte said.

“So umaamin po tayo talaga na mayroon pa rin po tayong mga balakid na hinaharap, pero patuloy pa rin po nating itutulak ‘yung ating mga proyekto, kasi maganda po ‘yung mga nakita na nating ‘build back better’ doon sa areas ng Guiuan,” she said.

In terms of land acquisition challenges, Valte said some tracts of land that were initially identified in the beginning as possible rehabilitation sites did not push through as rehabilitation sites.

Valte said even first world countries like the United States had difficulty in rehabilitation following the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, noting that super typhoon “Yolanda” was stronger than Hurricane Katrina.

She, however, said multilateral agencies like the United Nations and the World Bank have pitched in for the rehabilitation efforts and noted the Philippines’ progress in rehabilitation of typhoon-affected areas.

Valte said that based on the data from the National Housing Authority (NHA), the government was able to build 17,641 permanent houses.