INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—More than a month after supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) ravaged Eastern Visayas, the government has no tput up a single bunkhouse for the thousands of survivors of the natural disaster in the region.
But the Department of Public Works and Highways assured the public on Tuesday it would go on a “fast track mode” in the construction of the initial 119 temporary shelters in Eastern Samar and Leyte.
The first batch of bunkhouses, each composed of 24 units or a total of 2,856 units, “will be completed by Dec. 15,” according to the DPWH Public Information Division (PID).
In Eastern Samar, they include 16 units being put up in Guiuan town, 11 in the municipality of Hernani, five in Giporlos, four in Balangkayan, and two each in Borongan, Lawaan and Balanggiga, among others.
Sixteen units in Barangay Concepcion, Ormoc City, are “also targeted for completion by Dec. 15,” Elizabeth Pilorin, PID chief, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
In Tacloban City, the first batch of 23 bunkhouses, which are being built at the Motocross Area along Daang Maharlika and the Sagkahan Bliss area, are expected to be finished by Dec. 20.
“More will be completed in time for the New Year,” said Pilorin. The construction of the temporary shelters are “being supervised by DPWH regional directors from Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, Mimaropa, Bicol, Northern Mindanao, Davao region, and Caraga,” according to Pilorin.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson has tasked the regional directors to assist DPWH-Region 8 in the rehabilitation of typhoon-devastated areas in the region.
Upon completion, the bunkhouses will be turned over by the DPWH to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the distribution to the calamity victims.
Last week, Singson said the agency would need at least P15 billion for the construction of temporary shelters for the typhoon survivors, which he also said would take up to three years.
He told reporters that some of the money would be used to purchase construction materials the DPWH would provide calamity victims who intend to rebuild their own homes.
According to Singson, “the repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and other public infrastructures can be completed in one year.”
“But it’s the shelter program that will take some time,” he said, adding “putting up the bunkhouses and other temporary shelters will most likely take three years, which is fast enough.”
The DPWH head also said their “Shelter Action Plan” would require the employment of a lot more construction workers than currently available.
He said the agency has asked the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to start conducting crash courses on carpentry, equipment operation and other construction-related activities.
“Without these TESDA training courses, we might find ourselves short of construction workers,” he added.
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