Yolanda housing delay a national shame
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 05 Jul 2019 16:13:02 +0000
THE shocking revelation by the Commission on Audit (CoA) this week that only a little more than half of the permanent housing units intended for families displaced by Typhoon Yolanda nearly six years ago is a disgrace, a shameful state of affairs that must be corrected at once by any means necessary.
In the “Status of Accomplishment for Permanent Housing Program of the National Housing Authority (NHA)” released on Thursday, the CoA said that as of Dec. 31, 2018, out of a target of 203,471 housing units to replace homes destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, only 117,167, or 58 percent, had been completed.
To make matters worse, a majority of the housing units that have been built are apparently unfit for occupancy. The CoA said that 62,474 units, or 53 percent of those completed, had not been occupied by their intended recipients.
The low occupancy rate was attributed to “lack of water and power supply, accessibility of the housing site to source of livelihood, rectification and correction of findings per CPES (Constructors’ Performance Evaluation System), delay in approval of individual lot titling by DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) as portion of the property is traversed by dried up creek, where some [housing units] were built, and delay in the final inspection and acceptance of completed housing units.”
CPES assesses the quality of construction of the housing units, as well as the operations of building contractors. Flaws in the finished housing units are supposed to be corrected before turnover to their occupants.
The low rate of completion of housing units had various causes according to the CoA report, including “land boundary disputes, issues on road right of way, unbuildable area on site, non-issuance/delayed approval of permits, inclement weather condition, change of site location/housing design, issuance of Notice and Order of Termination of Contracts, and termination of contracts.”
The shameful bottom line to all of this is that nearly six years after being displaced by Typhoon Yolanda, nearly three out of four people eligible for replacement homes still do not have them. Whatever the cause, the government must move aggressively to rectify that situation.
The CoA has called the attention of the NHA itself — the second time in as many weeks that the agency has been called out for inadequate performance by the CoA. In another report last week, the NHA, along with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, were criticized for having so far utilized only P113 million of a P2-billion fund intended for relief and rehabilitation programs to benefit people displaced by the 2017 battle for Marawi City.
As we have seen countless times in the past, even if it appears to be an obvious solution, changing leadership in an agency does not always mean an improvement in outcomes. A careful assessment of the situation is important. But whether or not there is a change in management at the NHA, there must be better coordination between agencies, and between the national-level agencies and local government units. Likewise, the need for housing not only in terms of numbers of units but where they are located also needs to be reexamined.
The NHA and all other responsible agencies and government units need to be reminded again, above all, that the real objective is not to simply build houses, but to give people a fair chance to return to dignified, productive lives. In a country that takes pride in its spirit of helping others, no one should have to wait six years for that, especially if the fund for it has long been available, waiting to be used.
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