Bohol needs P12B for quake repairs

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines——Bohol will need P12.314 billion to rehabilitate houses, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure damaged by the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit the province on Oct. 15, 2013.

A MAN walks past the ruins of the viewing deck of the Chocolate Hills in Carmen town in Bohol after the killer 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the province in October. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

In his State of the Province Address (SOPA) last week, Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto said P5 billion would go to local priority projects and P7.314 to national priority projects.

Bohol’s shelter program alone would entail P1.3 billion, which would be funded by a P912.6-million assistance grant from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and P388.5 million from the National Housing Authority (NHA).

The rehabilitation program for Bohol will also focus on the massive reconstruction and restoration of damaged churches and other national heritage sites.

Chatto said the national government had allocated an initial P600 million for the restoration of the province’s centuries-old churches.

Rehabilitation work has started on the Baclayon Church, the country’s oldest stone church.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has allocated P1 billion for the repair and reconstruction of damaged classrooms and other school facilities.

At the same time, more than 8,000 disaster-resistant houses will be built in the province through the joint efforts of the DSWD, the provincial government and Habitat for Humanity.

On Feb. 8, Chatto, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, DSWD Field Office VII Director Mercedita Jabagat and Charlie Ayco, Habitat managing director and chief executive officer, signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the implementation of the Core Shelter Assistance Project (CSAP) in the town of Sagbayan.

The CSAP aims to build environment-friendly, structurally strong shelter units that can withstand up to 220-kph winds and at least intensity-4 earthquakes.

Each unit costs P88,000 and is made of locally available materials to revitalize the local economy.

The DSWD will shoulder P70,000 while Habitat will contribute P18,000 as its counterpart fund for each unit, which may be in the form of cash, labor, volunteers, facilities and equipment, administrative costs and social services, such as medical missions and feeding programs.

The total cost of the housing project is P711.3 million. Of this amount, P565.8 million will come from the DSWD and the balance from Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity, with its extensive experience in the management and implementation of socialized housing projects for the homeless and other disadvantaged groups, will build the core shelters.

The DSWD has turned over to Habitat P371 million as the initial tranche of its counterpart funding.

The provincial government, in coordination with the DSWD and the municipalities concerned, has identified the CSAP beneficiaries.

Of the 17 hardest-hit towns of Bohol, Loon has the most number of destroyed houses at 1,255 followed by Sagbayan with 1,035 and Maribojoc with 1,033.

For families with partially damaged houses, the DSWD and the municipal governments will implement the Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA). Under the ESA, each household-beneficiary will receive P10,000 worth of materials for home repairs. The DSWD will set aside a total of P346.8 million for this project.

A total of 34,688 houses in Bohol were damaged by the earthquake.