Samar landslide victims to get new houses

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, Aug. 6  -- Families displaced by the landslide during the December 2014 Typhoon Seniang will soon own permanent houses. 

The city government, together with Malaysia-based Berjaya Corp., and Gawad Kalinga, started over the weekend the construction of housing units for 40 families affected by the calamity on the eight-hectare city government property in Payao village.

These families are from Mercedes village, where some currently  stay in bunkhouses built by the local government, more than three kilometers from the city center.

On Saturday, hundreds of individuals from various government offices and non-government organizations came to help build the housing units.

The project's beneficiaries also joined the bayanihan activity. The project requires recipients to contribute 1,500 hours to haul sand, gravel, and hollow blocks.

“I am thankful that I was chosen to be one of the recipients of this housing project. After the disaster, I thought we will not be able to own a house again,” said Pacencia Uy, 70, a project beneficiary.

Uy’s grandchild is one of the 20 people killed by landslide that hit the city’s five villages.

Gawad Kalinga Samar Coordinator Eduard Baltazar said that aside from working to complete the project, beneficiaries are also required to observe and follow the regulations.

“Our goal for this project is peace and harmony. We cannot achieve this if there are indifferences among community members,” Baltazar added.

The project in this city, the second Gawad Kalinga site in Samar province, is part of the target to build five million houses by 2022 for families displaced by calamities and impoverished families who have no means to build a house.

In an interview Saturday, Catbalogan City Mayor Stephany Tan thanked Gawad Kalinga and the management of Berjaya Corp. for answering the needs of landslide victims.

Tan recalled that the original plan was to tap the company to handle the city’s solid waste management program.

The firm later offered to help the city government answer the housing needs of landslide victims after learning that the local government was looking for resettlement project partners.

“Many doubted that this project will be implemented because it is already two years since we started our talks with them and completing the requirements. The local government is really happy that soon, the survivors of the landslide will have a better place to live in,” Tan added.

Aside from housing project, a public school, two evacuation centers, rehabilitation center for youth offenders and drug surrenderers will also rise within the eight-hectare property. (RTA/PNA)