Binay denies hand in housing backlog 2 years after ‘Yolanda’

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NINO JESUS ORBETA

Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday said that has no hand in the delay of providing houses for the victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” two years after it hit Eastern Visayas.

Binay, who is running for president in next year’s elections, said that during his term as chairman of the National Housing Authority (NHA), they only had to work with the budget given to them.

“Kami sa NHA kasi, when I was part of the Cabinet, I was the chairman of NHA. Hanggang sa kahapong nandito ako, ‘yong sinasabi na nagawa na bahay ng NHA ay ganito lang. I hope you understand ha, walang kasalanan ho kami sa NHA. Kami, we worked on the basis of the money given to us. Yong mga natapos, ay yon lang ang nasakop ng perang ipinadala. Kulang ang ipinadala, ayon nagkaroon ng backlog. So, bakit?” he said in an interview with reporters.

(When I was part of the Cabinet, I was the chairman of NHA. They told me that the number of houses built by the NHA was just so and so. I hope you understand that we at the NHA are not to blame. We worked on the basis of the money given to us. The money given to us was not enough so that is why he had a backlog.)

He said that the Aquino government should explain why it has failed to expedite the release of funds for rehabilitation and recovery of the areas affected by Yolanda.

“I think the people of Leyte deserve to know what really is the problem bakit naantala tayo,” Binay said.

According to the NHA, the government has constructed 17, 641 of the 92,554 houses needed for the families affected by the super typhoon. A total of P26.996 billion had been released for the construction of the 92,554 housing units.

Meanwhile, the vice president said that it is not enough for the administration to compare the Philippines’ experience post-Yolanda to the experience of other countries to justify the delay of the release of funds needed for rehabilitation.

“I think it’s not a good explanation to say, ‘No, we did better than other countries.’ Hindi naman pinag-uusapan yung who did better. Ang sinasabi ko ngayon, bawat araw ay mahalaga,” Binay said.

On Saturday, Malacañang said that the Philippines did quite better compared to the United States which is still allegedly struggling 10 years after hurricane “Katrina” hit several states along the Gulf of Mexico in 2005.

“Even a country [that] is considered First World like the United States was struggling [with] post-Katrina rehab and I believe Yolanda was even stronger. So even multilateral agencies like the United Nations, the World Bank have pitched in for the rehab efforts, and they themselves say that we are making good progress in our rebuilding efforts,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said.