Video by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – Jenylyn Macawili,19, and her three-month-old baby who has meningitis and a split palette, are among the hundreds still living in tents and makeshift houses in Tacloban City.
She and her six other relatives have not yet been able to move to temporary bunkhouse shelters in Tacloban and Palo despite the three months that have passed since Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan) destroyed homes and livelihood across the Visayas.
“In my calculations, only 20 percent of the total [displaced persons] have been transferred,” Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told reporters after conducting an inspection of the bunkhouses Thursday.
“It looks like there is a slow turn-over of the bunkhouses to the homeless families,” he said.
Photo by RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net
Marcos disputed a report from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) region VIII saying that the construction of bunkhouses have been completed saying it was not true seeing as how many still don’t have complete walls.
The families of Mara Maceda, 17, and Gel De Dios, 19, have both been transferred to the bunkhouses on February 7.
De Dios, who belongs to a family of four, said that they are cramped inside the small bunkhouse and that they don’t have electricity.
Maceda said that she and her parents are also cramped inside the bunkhouses but it’s better there because it gives them a sense of security.
Both girls said that one of the problems they have to bear is the noise easily caused by the thin plywood walls and floor.
“When you are lying on the floor and somebody just walks, you can easily hear the noise,” De Dios said.
Marcos however cited notable improvements to the bunkhouses compared to when he first inspected them.
Among the improvements were the exposed wiring have been fixed, some walls that are no longer a single piece of plywood, and how some units were joined together to accommodate a single large family.
He said that he will recommend a Senate committee investigation regarding the status of funds from international and national sources as well as where these are intended to be used in order to speed up the process.
Regarding the alleged purchase of substandard materials for the bunkhouses, Marcos said he was given assurance by DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson that contractors would not be paid unless the bunkhouses comply with standards.
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