Duterte to offer housing units allotted to soldiers to Taal volcano victims

MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said soldiers have to “step aside” for the meantime as he intends to give housing units intended for them to the thousands of families displaced by the Taal Volcano eruption.

“When there is an emergency and when there is a need to provide shelter and there is none, I always have the military to step aside. Sabihin ko lang sa kanila na [I’ll just tell them], ‘you just bear this event and let me get back to you and build a more (amiable unit),” Duterte said.

The President said about a thousand housing units are already available for the Taal volcano eruption victims.

“I think I have readied, but of course it’s not really that near. It is far but I have a thousand I think available. And it has served as well during the many crises that we have faced in the past,” he said.

In a statement Wednesday, Malacañang said the housing units being eyed to be given to Taal victims are spread out in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, and Quezon.

State volcanologists have lowered Taal Volcano’s alert level status from 4 to 3, which indicates a “decreased tendency towards hazardous eruption.”

According to Housing Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario, about 5,000 to 6,000 households, of which include 2,000 families in Taal Volcano Island itself, were affected by the eruption last month.