Completion of ‘Yolanda’ housing in Tacloban eyed by end of May

TACLOBAN CITY, May 17 -- The National Housing Authority (NHA) is eyeing to complete the construction of 12,907 housing units in the northern part of this city by the end of May.

Dorcas Secreto, NHA Eastern Visayas regional estate management specialist, said the project was 67 percent complete as of first week of May. The houses are for the families displaced by super typhoon "Yolanda" in 2013.

About 8,628 families have been transferred to 14 NHA sites: Ridgeview Park, Villa Diana, Villa Sofia, Greendale Residences 1, Greendale Residences 2, Greendale Residences 3, Guadalupe Heights 1, Guadalupe Heights 2, Guadalupe Heights 3, Knightsridge Residences, North Hill Arbours, Salvacion Heights, St. Francis Village, and New Hope Village.

“We are doing our best to have all these units completed within the month and move all families to their new homes by June,” Secreto said.

The NHA extended the deadline after it failed to meet the March 31, 2017 time limit set by President Rodrigo Duterte during his visit to resettlement sites last January 25.

Even if the construction is delayed, for Vilma Veremsa, 43, a mother of two, the project gives them assurance that her family is safe during natural calamities.

Veremsa’s family formerly resided in the city’s San Jose district which was badly hit by the super typhoon.

"We now feel more safe here since we don’t have to evacuate during emergency since this are

a is free from threats of big waves and flooding. This is way better than our old makeshift house,” Veremsa told PNA.

Each housing unit site is equipped with community facilities, water supply, and power lines. Specifications of housing units include individual septic tanks, minimum lot size of 40 square meters.

A house and lot package costs around PHP240,000 each. Beneficiaries will have to pay PHP200 monthly amortization after two years of stay. Payment will be done in 30 years.
 (Eunice T. Asuncion & Meagan C. Duya-OJTs/PNA)