A HOUSING program for survivors of typhoon “Yolanda” in Ormoc City has finally been completed, with the turnover on Thursday of of 1,419 housing units to the local government and beneficiaries, Cabinet Secretary and concurrent chairman of Task Force Yolanda Karlo Nograles said.
“President Rodrigo Duterte gave clear and urgent instructions to continue addressing the needs of our people and expedite the completion of these units before his term ends. We have achieved that objective,” Nograles said during an online turnover ceremony for the housing units from the National Housing Authority Region 8 (Eastern Visayas).
The Yolanda Permanent Housing Project is composed of 1,000 units at the Bagong Pag-asa Subdivision Phase 1 and 419 units at the Bagong Pag-asa Subdivision Phase 2, both in Barangay Margen in Ormoc City.
Nograles said “100 percent” completion of the housing units in Ormoc City, amid challenges including the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, is a result of unity, cooperation, and perseverance among the national government and local leaders to provide the needs of victims of typhoon Yolanda which hit the country in November 2013.
“We have seen how determined everyone was in finishing the project despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. Work was sustained and non-stop, and now we see the fruits of everyone’s labor,” he said.
Nograles said “virtual turnovers” of housing units are also being readied in Tacloban City, Baybay City, Basey in Samar, and the towns of Cabucgayan, Biliran, and Almeria in Biliran province.
To date, the NHA has completed 35,462 units out of the 54,508 housing units to be built in Eastern Visayas) while 10,877 houses are almost completed.
Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) left some 7,000 people dead and millions pesos worth of infrastructure and products destroyed.
