DSWD, UN Habitat to build 610 houses for ‘Yolanda’ survivors in Capiz, Iloilo

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development and the United Nations will be building more than 600 houses for typhoon “Yolanda” survivors in Capiz and Iloilo.

The DSWD and the United Nations Human Settlements Program or UN Habitat recently inked an agreement with the local governments of the two provinces for the construction of houses there.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the agency would provide P42.7 million in funds for the 610 houses in four towns in the two provinces.

Under the agreement, each house will cost P120,000. The DSWD will shell out P70,000 while the UN Habitat will shoulder P50,000 of the costs.

The DSWD, the UN Habitat and the local governments signed the agreement in Roxas City in Capiz last week, dubbing the project “Post Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements.”

The project will cover 610 houses in the towns of Roxas, Panay, and Pontevedra in Capiz and, Estancia in Iloilo, according to Soliman.

Prior to the agreement, the UN Habitat consulted with the residents in designing a sturdy house for the beneficiaries.

The Capiz Chapter of the United Architects of the Philippines helped in coming up with the design, while the Capiz Chapter of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines worked on structural integrity.

The local governments and the homeowners association will be in charge of monitoring the materials used and the actual construction of the houses.

Ma. Evelyn Macapobre, field director of the DSWD office, thanked the UN Habitat for the partnership with the government to provide safer houses for the typhoon victims.

“Let us do this fast so that we will be able to bring the survivors in their own homes the soonest time possible. I already saw a good number of houses constructed here,” she said.

Human settlement officer Bernhard Barth from the UN Habitat regional officer for Asia and the Pacific stressed the importance of “building back better.”

“This partnership with the national government is important not only because of the sharing of resources but also in finding ways on how to rebuild houses in a cheaper, faster and culturally accepted way through the involvement of communities,” he pointed out.

For his part, Capiz governor Victor Tanco urged the beneficiaries to take good care of the houses as he thanked the DSWD and the UN Habitat for the post-Yolanda project.