7 yrs after ‘Yolanda’ onslaught, gov’t completes housing project in MacArthur, Leyte

MANILA, Philippines — The government has finally completed its free housing project for victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda in MacArthur, Leyte, nearly seven years since the onslaught of the strongest tropical cyclone that hit the Philippines in recent years.

According to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, chair of Task Force Yolanda, 122 units were distributed to local beneficiaries in the municipality of MacArthur on Thursday during an online turnover ceremony.

It was the 10th virtual turnover of the Yolanda Permanent Housing Project.

“I am proud that we are already 100% complete in our 112 housing commitments here in MacArthur, Leyte. This is the result of everyone’s dedication,” Nograles said.

Based on National Housing Authority (NHA) data as of October 12, 2020, out of a planned 53,038 housing units for Region VIII, 37,414 have already been completed, with the remaining 15,624 undergoing construction.

During the Senate hearing on the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, Housing Settlements Sec. Eduardo del Rosario said of the 180,912 units already constructed for the Yolanda housing projects, about 130,000 have been completed and they expect to finish and turn over all units by 2022.

Yolanda, considered by weather experts as one of the world’s most powerful typhoons in the past century, caused massive damage in most parts of the Visayas region, particularly on Samar and Leyte, and killed some 6,300 people.

EDV