Bunkhouses to be built for Marawi evacuees

Instead of building a tent city to accommodate evacuees from the fighting in Marawi City, the government plans to construct bunkhouses for some 4,000 “bakwit” families displaced when the Maute terror group attacked the city last May 23.

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Khalil Sultan in Lanao del Norte told The STAR that there has been a change of plans with regard to the construction of transition shelters for some of those who fled war-torn Marawi.

“Instead of tents, the evacuees might have bunkhouses. They decided to change the plans because with tents, the evacuees might feel cramped and it would be hot so they might be uncomfortable. Compared to a bunkhouse, where they would have space and better ventilation because there would be windows,” said Sultan.

He said government officials are thinking of patterning the one-story bunkhouses for each family in Marawi City on the bunkhouses built for those affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda in Leyte in November 2013.

The transition shelter located in Barangay Sagonsongan, Marawi City was intended to ease congestion in the evacuation centers.

He said the National Housing Authority (NHA) is in charge of building the houses and they would be assisted by military engineers and nongovernment organizations.

The DPWH, on the other hand, will be in charge of grading the lot area and covering it with cement. It would also prepare the drainage system to spare the evacuees from heavy flooding.

The Duterte administration also intends to build a kitchen area, washroom, toilet, shower, a mosque, clinic, madrasah, market, a multi-purpose hall, a materials recovery facility, two guardhouses and a water supply system in the transition shelter complex.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar earlier ordered the temporary realignment of equipment from five of their other regions in Mindanao – Region 9 (Zamboanga peninsula), Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), Region 11 (Davao), Region 12 (Soccsksargen), and Region 13 (Caraga) – to speed up construction of the transition shelters.

Sultan had said that they have at their disposal a dozen dump trucks, four backhoes, two bulldozers, two units of road roller and three grader trucks.

Charlie Fabre, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Caraga region, said the agency plans to donate confiscated lumber to allow Marawi evacuees to rebuild houses destroyed or damaged in the fighting.

He said the DENR could provide at least 1 million board feet of lumber worth about P12 million that include wood donated by private lumber companies and wood earlier seized from illegal loggers.