Housing for Yolanda victims 70% complete —Nograles

The government has completed 70 percent of the housing for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda six years since the super typhoon devastated the Visayas region and killed at least 6,000 people, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Wednesday.

Nograles said some finished units have pending water and electricity installations thus needing immediate assistance from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA), as well as electric cooperatives, which his office was on top of.

"We will be able to finish the remaining 30% at the soonest possible time. There likewise remain a few municipalities with pending concerns but we've been assured by the National Housing Authority (NHA) that these issues will all be addressed,” Nograles said in a statement.

"We're mindful of the deadline set by President [Rodrigo] Duterte. He's pushing physical completion of the housing units by the NHA within 2019 and full turnover of livable units in the entire Yolanda corridor by 2020," he added.

Nograles said that of the 70 percent of houses already completed, half of them have already been awarded to beneficiaries, and that his office is seeking the cooperation of local government units and mayors since local chief executives sit as chairpersons of the local inter-agency committees (LIACs).

A selection committee constituted by the LIAC will make the final determination of who gets awarded the housing units after a thorough selection process.

"Every town and municipality has its own status report, which will ease monitoring by both local officials and beneficiaries. The immediate turn-over of livable housing units is our objective in order that beneficiaries can use them right away," Nograles said.

"They've been made to wait long enough, and fully deserve government's attention and action." —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA News