Aquino pledges to complete rehab of areas hit by ‘Pablo’

LAAK, Compostela Valley, Philippines — President Benigno Aquino III told residents and local officials here, on Sunday morning, the national government has not forgotten their needs a year after the community was devastated by typhoon “Pablo.”

In a brief rare visit to the upland farming village of Kidawa, President Aquino pledged to help the community rise from the ruins of 2012’s calamity, saying the government would continue helping those affected by the worst storm to ever hit Mindanao, while also addressing the needs of a string of disasters that hit the country this year.

“Our initiative is not only to help you get back on your feet, but to build back better,” the President told the crowd of over a hundred residents and local officials.

The President’s visit to Kidawa, a farming village some 63 kilometers from Laak town proper and more than 100 kilometers from the nearest city of Tagum, came just weeks after the municipality and the province of Compostela Valley commemorated the first anniversary of the onslaught of Pablo, which killed 11 people in the entire town and destroyed or damaged 13,951 homes.

The President arrived on helicopter at around 10 a.m. and stayed for not more than 20 minutes. After Laak, the President and his party then flew to Zamboanga City.

Accompanying Aquino were Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Task Force Pablo chief Jose Rene Almendras and former Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson whom Aquino recently appointed as rehabilitation chief coordinator for those areas in the Visayas hardest-hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan).

The President also checked on the 115 permanent houses newly built by the Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD) under its emergency shelter assistance project at Kidawa.

He pledged for more houses for those affected by Pablo, saying the government would be building 27,000 homes in Compostela Valley.

Laak Mayor Reynaldo Navarro said his municipality was among the hardest-hit when Pablo struck but was the last to receive aid, as most relief went straight to equally devastated but more accessible areas like New Bataan and Monkayo towns, the mayor said.

“That time I was really fighting my way for relief agencies and organizations to come to our aid,” Navarro said, adding Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were among those who responded quickly.

“Now that even the President himself visited us, people are happy. At last, the nightmare of Kidawa is over,” the mayor said.

The DSWD is to build 345 more houses in Laak, out of the total 3,813 units for the first batch of the permanent shelters, with each house costing P100,000.

Each house has a lot area of 70 square meters and floor area of four by six square meters.

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